Cold Drug
by TiLiYu
Summary: With their usual luck, when Heiji and Conan try to have fun in a ski resort with the girls, bodies can't stop from falling around them... But what if that case was just the beginning of something bigger ? And that it forces them to fight one of the most formidable enemies they ever met ?
1. Chapter 1 - Encounter

**Hey there !**

 **As promised, we begin a new story today : )**

 **I'll be publishing two chapters today but will probably publish only once a week for the moment, with the end of the year celebration's incoming, I don't think I'll have enough time to publish twice now, but I'll be back at this rhythm as soon as possible ; )**

 **So, after all that MK in 'moon', I felt the need to go back to DC's world, expect a bunch of mysteries : ) And, to change a bit, while our heroes may encounter the BO, it won't be their main enemy here !**

 **Hope you'll enjoy this one too ! ^_^**

* * *

 **SUMMARY : With their usual luck, when Heiji and Conan try to have fun in a ski resort with the girls, bodies can't stop from falling around them... But what if that case was just the beginning of something bigger ? And that it forces them to fight one of the most formidable enemy they ever met ?**

 **CHARACTERS : Conan / Shinichi and Heiji as mains. We'll also see often the girls, Ran and Kazuha, and Kogoro. Some other known characters will also appear : )**

 **SPOILERS : Let's say Vermouth arc, a bit here and there of the movies and just one mention of a case that was after Vermouth arc but, since Shin was in middle school back then, it doesn't really count, right ? ^^**

 **PAIRINGS : Canon !**

 **RATING : T for language and violence, as usual.**

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 **Chapter 1 : Encounter**

* * *

« - Come on, weren' ya supposed ta have taken some lessons since that last skiin' resort we had in middle school ? » Heiji sighed as he saw his childhood friend clumsily zigzag on the slope. « We could have gotten ya lessons if ya needed ta…

\- Maa, it's funnier together, ne ? » Ran smiled, covering for her friend when she saw her embarrassed face, clearly implying she didn't improve the slightest bit. «And since Conan-kun is here, we wouldn't have been able to go to too high levelled places anyway…

\- He skies better than her…

\- Heiji ! » Kazuha protested, upset from being compared to a seven year old. « I can ski and I'll prove it ta ya ! Let's head over there ! » She ordered, pointing with the hand the highest peak around them, the one with the most difficult slopes.

« - It's a bit late, Kazuha-chan, perhaps we should… » The brown haired girl tried to reason her friend as she eyed the sky, noticing the night, and along it a bunch of menacing clouds, weren't that far away.

« - Nah, I need ta show that Ahou I can do it ! » The Osakan girl concluded, pushing on her ski poles to head to the nearest ski lift.

« - Well done… » Conan muttered to Heiji with a bored face after Ran left to follow her friend. «I'll never be able to watch that ep' of detective Samonji…

\- Come on, don' tell me ya invited us ta just stay alone in front o' the TV… » The detective of the West complained with a little nudge.

« - I didn't invite you, Ran did, since she's the one who won this contest at the mall…

\- Yer girl really got luck.

\- She's not my… » The small detective denied, blushing slightly as he saw the other teen's malicious grin.

« - Hai, hai… Let's go ? » The dark-skinned finally proposed, when he noticed Kazuha was already reaching the lift with a determined face.

"- Yea, better stay close, I have a bad feeling about that idea..." The boy sighed, eyeing the skies with a bored eye.

o.O.o

And indeed, one hour later, they were still at it and Kazuha's annoyance had rubbed on everyone. The girl was tired, cold from all her falls, irritated because she didn't want to admit she wasn't managing very well despite her bravado.

"- Sure ya don' want me ta piggy ride ya ?" Heiji finally dared to ask after the pony-tailed Osakan threw herself on her bottom in the snow, in need of another break.

"- I'm not some child ! I said I'll do it, I will !

\- But ya act like one ! There is almost no light left when we're barely halfway an' Nee-chan an' the kiddo are clearly freezin', it's just that they are too polite ta admit it ... Stop with yer stubbornness, we all need ta get back ta the hotel..." He pointed out with a side look at the pair of Tokyoites, standing a bit below on the side of the slope with tired faces.

"- Ya jerk !" Kazuha spurted with a broken voice, getting on her feet and putting quickly her skis, to throw herself on the ski slope once again, but at high speed this time.

"- Ahou, don' go that fast !" The detective worried when he saw the girl accelerated to a speed that what beyond what she could control. "Kazuha !"

Ran and Conan turned their heads as they heard the Osakan's yell, to see the green-eyed girl was passing in front of them, a panicked expression on the face.

"- Help me, I can't stop !

\- Kazuha-chan, snowplough ! It'll slow you down !" The long-haired Tokyoite advised, pushing on her poles to go after the girl with a worried face.

"- I caaan't !"

When she saw Kazuha was heading straight at some trees, the detective's daughter didn't hesitate and schussed down to catch her at the last second, placing her body before the girl to protect her, but being herself slammed hardly against a tree in the manoeuvre.

"- Ran !" Conan spurted with concern when he saw the scene, having followed them from afar as he could with his little skis.

"- Kazuha !" Heiji was also yelling, schussing to join both girls and arriving just a bit before the boy near both girls. "Ya alright ?" He asked as he took his skis away to be able to come closer.

"- Yea, I think..." The ponytailed girl answered as she was shaking her head to remove the snow that had fallen on both of them when they touched the tree, her eyes a bit lost but conscious.

"- Ran ! " The small detective called with concern, kneeling near the girl and brushing the snow out of her face. "Hattori, help me !

\- Oy, Nee-chan !" The Osakan called, kneeling also near the girl to take her out of the snow and removing his parka to roll it under her head before starting to check her.

Conan in the meanwhile was removing her skis and sticking them into the snow to form a cross to warn the other skiers from the danger.

The green-eyed girl finally noticed something was happening and rushed to the Tokyoite, gently removing her woolly hat as she saw there was a bit of blood, to check her wound.

"- Ran-chan ! Answer me..." Kazuha pledged with shiny eyes after she saw she indeed hurt her head. It didn't look that bad but...

"- Everything alright ?" A young man asked to Conan as he came close, seeing the boy was removing his gloves to get his phone out and very probably to call for medical help. "My name is Shibe Yamato, I'm a doctor, I may be able to help you ?"

The small detective eyed the newcomer who was removing his ski mask, a brown haired man in his thirties with a short beard, in a blue parka that matched the blue eyes which were hidden behind a pair of glasses. He seemed to be with two friends, he could see they stopped a bit further, two men around the same kind of age.

"- It's Ran-neechan... " He answered with his best childish voice, trying to stay into his role despite his worry. "She's hurt, she hit a tree..."

As they both approached, they saw the girl was starting to move again with a faint moan, bringing her hand to her head as she grimaced with pain.

"- Hello, I'm Shibe Yamato, I'm a...

\- Doctor, I heard ya. Hattori Heiji.

\- Can I have a look at your friend ?

-... Sure" The Osakan agreed after exchanging a look with Conan. "Name's Mouri Ran. She hit her back an' head against that tree. Got a slight wound on the temple, stayed unconscious about two minutes but she seems ta be wakin' up. Pulse is steady an' regular.

\- You're familiar with medicine ? " The man wondered at the dark-skinned precise statements.

"- Ya could say that... Let's say I'm used ta check vitals..." The teen vaguely answered with a small ironic smile while the man started to look at the girl under Conan's worried look.

"- Need help, Yamato ? " One of the other men, the largest, asked as he came near after a little while, seeing his friend was examining the long-haired.

"- Nah, it seems it's nothing too serious, right Missy ?" The brown-haired concluded with a smile at the girl who was now fully back to consciousness. "Though I'd be more reassured if you accepted me to treat that wound at our lodge, it's pretty near from here, ten minutes walk maybe.

\- But we need to go back to the hotel, it'll be too dark to go down if we lose any more time..." The girl objected with a worried look at Kazuha.

"- Don't mind me, I'll manage, that's totally my fault after all..." She answered with a low voice, bowing her head with guilt.

"- Haha, don't worry, we'll drive you back at your hotel, we have our car at the lodge." The second man answered with a little laugh.

"- Yea, I don't think it's a good idea to put those two girls on the slopes again so soon..." Yamato gently smiled. "And you both seem frozen..." He added with a critical look at both boys.

"- Wouldn' say no ta a hot drink... " Heiji shrugged, starting to feel really cold as he had been without his parka for a while already and some snowflakes were starting to fall now.

"- If that's a yes... Ryo, come help us !" The second man called his friend to help Conan's group with their material. "I'm Akiyama Taichi, by the way, and the gruff guy here is Yoshida Ryo.

\- Hey..." The man soberly saluted with a little sign of the head.

"- Ya can walk, Nee-chan ?" The Osakan asked as he helped the girl on her feet, noticing she was swinging a bit on her legs.

"- I'd take that as a no..." The medic concluded as he saw her. "One of us will carry you.

\- But I..." Ran blushed, a bit embarrassed to be carried by some stranger.

"- I'm not letting you walk on a slippery slope like this, that was quite a big blow, Missy, better be cautious at the beginning..." He frowned.

"- I'll carry ya." Heiji volunteered while having a bored look at the ponytailed girl. "That's the least I can do fer not havin' be able ta convince Kazuha ta give up on that stupid idea...

\- Don't blame her, Hattori-kun, it wasn't her fault..." Ran scolded him when she saw her friend's face, with her eyes starting to shine again, only to get a shrug from the Osakan as an answer.

"- But you should still accept Heiji-niichan's help, it'll be safer..." Conan advised, glad his friend had volunteered as he was starting to frown with annoyance at the idea of one of those guys carrying the one that was _not_ his girl.

"- That's so embarrassing..." The girl mumbled as the detective of the West bent for her to settle on his back. "Just promise me you'll never talk about that to Shinichi...

\- Haha..." The Osakan nervously laughed with a side look at a certain grumpy bespectacled boy.

o.O.o

After a bit more than ten minutes, as the medic announced, they were facing a large lodge brightly lightened, looking pretty welcoming and, above all, warm, which was clearly what they were looking for, since the snow was starting to pile up.

"- Hey girls, we're back !" Taichi announced as he opened the door to let Heiji in so Ran could be the first in. "And we're not alone...

\- Ah ? " said a female voice with surprise before appearing in the entrance an eyeing the newcomers. "Indeed... Yamato-kun I bet ?" The girl, a tiny blond-haired, asked with a little smile when she saw the blue-eyed was helping a girl down another teenager's back.

"- Yup, you know him, each time he sees a kitty on the side of a road, he stops...

\- Drop it..." The said kitten-rescuer grunted with embarrassment at his large friend's ironic comment.

"- Maa, well, come in ! I'm Takeno Nanako, nice to meet you ! Meiko-chan, we got some additional guests !" She cheerfully announced, turning her head to the hallway. "Better bring towels, some of them look drenched..." The blond-haired added with a critical look at Heiji.

After the group introduced themselves to the two girls – the last one being Oikawa Meiko, a small brown-haired woman with a gentle face, they finally went into the lodge. Ran - and Conan on her heels - stepped in first so the girl could be treated, Kazuha volunteered to help preparing some hot drinks and the detective of the West, a towel still on his head, finally settled near a big fireplace, trying to warm his frozen fingers.

He was looking at the window, lost in his thoughts noticing the snow was falling even harder now, recovering everything in white, muffling every sound, reinforcing that impression the lodge was lost in the middle of nowhere.

"- Ya're not with yer Nee-chan ?" The Osakan asked with a smile as he heard some small steps behind him.

"- She sent me off... " He grumpily retorted when he took a seat near Heiji.

"- Or she wanted ta be alone with that _Yamato-sensei_..." His friend pointed out with a smile of irony.

"- Too good to be honest, that one...

\- Haha, are ya jealous ?

\- I'm not..." The boy denied, though his face was saying enough to the other detective.

"- Good ta know... I wouldn' have wanted ya ta hurt me fer carryin' yer girl...

\- You Baka..." Conan retorted with a bored glare.

The dark-skinned softly laughed and turned his head once again to the window. "All that snow reminds me o' that case in middle-school..." He observed after a little while, his eyes dreamy.

"- Ah, the one you talked about once ? The very first case I proved I was a better detective than you ?

\- W... What ?!" The Osakan turned his head at light speed to see the boy was looking at him with a malicious smile.

"- Haha, your face is priceless..." He finally laughed, unable to stop himself once he saw his friend's face.

"- The hell, Kudô ?!"


	2. Chapter 2 - Message

**Second chapter of the day !**

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 **Chapter 2 : Message**

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"- But ya weren' the best then... " Heiji pointed out with a bored look. "I was even faster than ya, it's just that I wanted ta tell the cops directly, if I had called like ya, I would have been first...

\- That's just a bunch of 'if'..." Conan mocked with a little smile. "Let's admit it, never mind us, our fathers were the best...

\- Yea... Could be fun ta have them challenge one day, East against West all over again !

\- They'd solve it so fast we wouldn't have enough time to see who's the best...

\- It's hard fer me ta admit it but, yea... I guess we can both still improve !" The Osakan agreed with a sad smile.

"- Still gettin' along quite well, eh ?" Kazuha commented as she approached the pair to put a cup of tea in front of each.

"- Thank you, Kazuha-neechan. Oh, Ran-neechan, are you alright ?" The bespectacled detective asked when he noticed she was just behind the Osakan.

"- As good as new !" The girl confirmed, before displaying a gentle smile when she saw the boy was eyeing with concern the bandage around her head.

"- You sure ?

\- Don't worry, Boy, that's just a scratch, that's a doctor telling you..." Yamato answered when he joined them and noticed the child's frown.

The small detective's frown slightly changed from concern to boredom, never really enjoying being called a 'Boy'.

"- Can we go home now then ?" He innocently asked, eager to get rid of the too familiar medic.

"- Ah, apparently, we'll have ta wait a bit, some of the group left with it for some shopping..." Kazuha objected.

"- Yes, sorry about that, I thought Hikari-san and Ren would already been back but..." The blue-eyed man confirmed.

"- There's nothing to be sorry of... Let's have our drink in the meanwhile !" Ran proposed, taking a seat near Conan.

o.O.o

"- So ya're all doctors ?!" Kazuha wondered as she looked at the group that was now in the living room.

"- Yea, we met during our studies in a medicine faculty..." Meiko explained with a smile at the girl's surprise.

"- Explains the big house..." Heiji observed, keeping his voice low to be heard only by Conan.

"- Yea, we'd better think once again about taking detective as a profession... " The boy retorted, an ironic smile on the face as his eyes laid on the large room they were in.

Considering its size, he could guess the lodge was wide, clearly oversized for the small group they were with, with at least two rooms for each as it was a three-storey building. And with its emplacement, so close to the slopes, it was clearly not the cheapest one around.

"- And you, what bring you here ? The place is great but not really well-known..." Yamato was wondering when the boys listened to the main conversation again.

"- Oh, I won a contest in a mall...

\- So you're not always unlucky ?" Taichi joked, a taunting smile on the face as he looked at the long-haired.

"- Nah, on the contrary, Ran-chan is usually pretty lucky..." Kazuha confirmed with a small giggle. "Don't challenge her with a deck o' cards !"

"- Yea, _haha_... They're too young fer ya guys, it's illegal..." The Osakan muttered once again, bored to see the two guys were laughing at his childhood friend's comment.

Conan, despite the fact he was also annoyed, couldn't stop a snort when he saw his best friend's face. The dark-skinned finally lightened up as all heard the front door open, meaning the two last ones of the group, the ones who took the car, were back.

"- At last..." Heiji sighed as he got up with a sneeze, already ready to leave.

"- What a crappy weather..." The male newcomer, a handsome black-haired man, commented with a bored face, heading straight to the fireplace. "Even last time in Russia, it wasn't that b...

\- Hey, stop reminiscing and help me with the bags, Ren-kun !" A female voice complained from the entrance.

The man only grumbled as an answer, so Yamato and Meiko got up to help the last girl.

"- Coming, Hikari-chan!" Taichi also announced, joining the group. "Come and warm yourself by the fireplace, we'll look after that !

\- Thanks ! Oh, we had guests ?" The woman, a calm looking blue-eyed, commented as she entered the living room

"- Yea, Yamato, you know... " Nanako shrugged with a smile of connivance.

"- Haha, got it... Nice to meet you, I'm Takaishi Hikari."

After they exchanged courtesies, the last man finally introduced himself as Ishida Ren, a surgeon.

"- Wow, that snow piled up so much since we came back !" Yamato concluded with a chill as the three of them came back into the main room. "Sorry guys, the trip back will be quite long..." He apologized to the two detectives and their girls.

"- As long as we reach the hotel..." The detective of the West shrugged as he stepped to the entrance, eager to get rid of all those men around the girls.

"- I'm not sure that's safe..." Meiko worried as she shook her head. "Look at how much it piled up, you'll have a hard time to get the car through all that snow.

\- They don't plan it to stop before the end of the night..." Ryo observed, getting his head out of his book.

"- Uh, I wouldn't want Yamato-san to be stuck in a snow storm because of us" Ran commented with a grimace, knowing she'd feel pretty guilty if anything happened to him after he helped them so much.

"- Why wouldn't you all stay for the night ?" Nanako proposed with a smile. "We got enough rooms and food for everyone and you'll be able to leave on your skis tomorrow morning !

\- We wouldn't want ta disturb ya..." Kazuha pointed out with embarrassment.

"- Oh, come on ! And like this, I'll be able to challenge Ran-san's luck with cards !" Taichi exclaimed with an enthusiastic smile.

"- That's...

\- Ah, please don't say no ! I'll team up with you, he always wins, I want to see him lose at least once..." Yamato pledged before Ran could even start her negative answer.

"- That's settled then !" Meiko smiled before getting up. "I guess I'll be starting to prepare the dinner.

\- I'll help !" Kazuha firmly volunteered.

"- So will I, just let me call my father first, he stayed at the hotel, I have to warn him we won't be coming back..." The Tokyoite girl explained as she took out her phone.

"- Oh joy..." Conan sighed, to be heard only by Heiji, as he understood he'll have to be careful the whole night not to have any of those rich Casanovas too close to Ran.

"- Same here..." Heiji agreed after another sneeze with the same look of boredom at the doctors.

o.O.o

Later in the evening, the girls were enjoying one of the facilities of the lodge, a wide room with a bath large enough for five persons to sit in without being cramped.

"- But still, that place is so crazy..." Kazuha commented, turning back to Ran after having watched dreamishly the snow piling up on the other side of the window.

"- Yea, a bit lost but it really has its charm.

\- Better than the hotel at least ! Ah, by the way, have ya been able ta contact Kogoro-jiisan ?

\- Barely, the snow is probably blocking the signal... But I think he understood, I just hope Otou-san won't be drinking all night long while I'm not here to watch him..." The long-haired girl sighed, more than aware that her father was perfectly able to do it.

"- Maa, at least, he won't annoy anyone, he's got two wide rooms just fer him !" Kazuha observed, trying to cheer up her friend who was already darkening, probably a bit concerned about her father.

The girl shook her head and smiled, brushing away her concerns. "That's about what we have here, have you seen how long is that hallway ? And there's another floor !

\- Yea, can't imagine how much it could cost... Not something we could afford and probably never will !

\- Good thing you got that accident then" Ran soflty laughed with a taunting smirk.

"- Uh, don't remind me, I'm pretty, pretty sorry, Ran-chan...

\- Forget it, that's just a bump !

\- But...

\- Ah, you don't want to make me angry so no 'but's !

\- 'kay..." The Osakan agreed, exchanging a smile with her friend.

That smile quickly disapeared when a yell suddenly echoed into the house.

o.O.o

"- So, nothin' really fun lately?

\- If by 'fun', you mean a bunch of dead bodies, nah, nothing, it's a bit calm nowadays..." Conan admitted from his bed with a little sigh.

"-An' yer friends in black?

\- Nothing...

\- Tsk, be honest fer once, Kudô..." The Osakan scolded with serious eyes. "Don' be so stubborn, the Professor told me ya've been investin' a lot about them those last weeks... I could help, why do ya always keep those things quiet...

\- Because they're MY things," Conan snapped to a disapproving Heiji, "I don't need you to meddle with...

\- Why ? " The detective of the West argued, getting on his feet to come closer to the boy. "Ya trust me, do ya?

\- Of course, Hattori, but...

\- There's always a 'but' with ya..."

"- Kyyyaaaa !"

Both boys turned their heads to the room's door, tensing as their detective's senses awoke with a start.

"- That was... Takeno-san?" Conan guessed as he got up from his bed.

"- 'think... Let's go !"

The two friends rushed to the hallway, adrenaline running through their bodies as they ran to the floor below, not knowing what they'd be facing.

They quickly noticed where the yell had been coming from, as Nanako was on her knees in front of an opened door. The girl looked shocked and she buried her head in Yamato's shoulder when he crouched by her side.

Ryo, the not-talkative one, was looking with a disgusted face at what was inside the room to finally decide to step in.

"- Don' !" Heiji ordered as he came close enough to see what was in.

"- But we need to check if he's still...

\- Look at him, there's nothin' ta check... The only thin' we can do now is ta keep everythin' in order while we wait fer the police ta arrive..." The Osakan sighed, his eyes still on the body.

"- The police ?" Ryo wondered, still uneasy with the teenager's firm orders.

"- No need ta be a cop ta see that's clearly a murder..." He dully concluded, finally turning to look at the dark haired, to see Hikari and Meiko were arriving.

"- Who's been...

\- Ishida-san." Conan answered, looking up at the one who just spoke, Meiko.

"- Someone call the police" The detective of the West ordered as the last one, Taichi, arrived. "An' if any o' ya got a camera, I'd need it.

\- I'm on it" The man proposed, guessing by the dark faces and Nanako's sobs something serious happened.

"- But who are you?" Hikari wondered with a disbelieving look at the teen.

"- Hattori Heiji. High-school detective. The small guy here is my assistant, Edogawa Conan" He announced as he patted the bespectacled child at his side.

"- Explains the comment about the vitals..." Yamato observed, eyeing with curiosity the dark-skinned.

"- That's it. Could any o' ya bring us two pairs o' gloves ? We'll be investigatin' a bit while waitin' fer the police.

\- That's nothing a little child should see..."

Heiji shrugged at Shibe's comment. "He'll be alright." He answered before following the boy who was already inside.

"- The hell..." Conan said between his teeth.

"- Same here..." The Osakan agreed, also clenching his teeth to keep his stomach where it belonged.

"- Heiji ?

\- Kazuha, don' come here ! "

But it was already too late and both girls, still wrapped in towels as they rushed directly from the bath, hugged each other with a horrified yell as they saw the crime scene.

"- Come here girls, there's nothing for you to see..." Meiko said, grabbing Ran's arm to move the two female friends from the door, barely having a glimpse at the room with a disgusted face.

"- Let's find you some cloth, you'll catch a cold like this..." Hikari added, understanding the detectives would be better without them.

"- Thanks..." Heiji muttered as he exchanged a nod with her.

Their attention back on the room, the boys took their handkerchieves out and approached the body.

Both detectives were used to dead bodies and crime scenes but this one was one of the most violent they ever saw.

"- If that's not rage, I wonder what it is..." The bespectacled child said with irony.

"- A psychopath ? Though, ta that level, we would have noticed the guy, he'd be runnin' amok an' yellin' in the hallways...

\- Clearly."

The room was a mess... A lot of things had been smashed to the floor and were lying around, half drenched with the victim's blood, Ishida Ren's. The formerly pretty looking man was now covered with scarlet, mostly near the neck area where a large gash was what made Heiji confident about the fact he was dead.

The detective of the West approached the victim while the small boy was looking for any clue around him among the numerous items lying on the floor.

"- He's been hit on the back o' the head..." The dark-skinned observed as he noticed some blood in the former doctor's hair. Resuming his examination, he took the man's hand. "We finished eatin' two hours ago an' his skin is still pretty hot... I'd say it happened less than one hour ago, so between 10 an' 11 p.m. ... We'll have ta check everyone's alibi back then. Ya listenin', Kudô ?

\- Hattori...

\- Yea ?

\- We got to solve that case fast or he won't be the only one..." Conan darkly concluded.

Heiji looked at him with surprise and his eyes fell on what the boy was staring at.

A large message was written on the wall, the blood clearly visible on the clear wood from the wainscot.

 _"You bunch had no mercy in killing Mina. Don't expect me to show any either. "_


	3. Chapter 3 - Mina

**Hey there !**

 **Are you all preparing Christmas ? We're already so close ! :D**

 **Time for another chapter of that case in the middle of the snow : )**

 **I don't think killing people is really into the Christmas spirit but... That's how DC works ! xD**

 **And for your info, I'll be trying to publish on Wednesdays and Sundays starting next week, else it's so slow with only one chapter per week ! I should be able to follow that rhythm.**

 **o.O.o**

 **Purpalz Miner : Thank you ! Haha, indeed, there's a kind of BL invasion nowadays so this is my _non_ -contribution to the style, a canon couple fic ! Hmm but that's how we write dialogs in French so I'll stay with those : ) **

**emmahoshi : Hey, welcome back ! It's been such a... short time ? ^^ So don't worry, you're not late ; ) Thanks ! It's always hard to start a story, the beginning always seems so slow and so uninteresting ^^; The great enemy will be an OC so no need to try to find out who it is : ) I just wanted for once not to destroy the BO in one of my fics xD And it'll be with multiple locations, the ski resort is just to start and because I was in need of some snow in my life : ). Thank you ! I also need to have Heiji in my fics... But there'll always be Shin I think, as I love those 2 relationship : ) (the bromance of course ! No BL here I said :p)**

 **Laury Rose : Welcome back too :D And double dose ! ^^ CHAP 1: Yea, it was so frustrating to see them so close and yet never meet... But well, the case was fun and it was cute to see them as middle-school students : ) Maaa, this is just the beginning, I won't start to be serious so soon ^^ Yea, after 'moon' where those two couples were in a relationship, I needed to go back to the usual denial and shyness of our two detectives, this is so fun to write ; ) CHAP 2 : Oh, this is a pretty soft cliff, I think... You've seen much worse xD Ah, well, I needed some cases for my fiction and they are dead-body magnets... Perfect ! And I don't mind if they like it or not ^^ Yup, careful, a crazy doctor is on the loose and he knows precisely how to kill you... Constant vigilance, boys ! ~ Hmm, we're still here for a few chapters so I guess, nah, they won't be fast enough :p**

 **JarayZ : Another usual face, glad to see you here : ) I can see that, thanks for having such a hobby, it makes me happy ; ) And two reviews, yea ! CHAP 1 : Yea, we're back to a lighter tone, after 'moon' so you might expect one or two laugh, be careful ^^ Isn't a denying Conan pretty cute ? ; ) And yes, it was so frustrating that only Shinichi knew he was facing Heiji during that case, I wanted him to know ! CHAP 2 : Maaa, of course, I even put 'mystery' in the genre, murders were due to happen ^^ Oh, playing guess already ? I won't be giving any hints this time, some things you'll be able to guess, some things not... You'll see ! Yea, having doctors as suspects is fun... They can either save your life or kill you quickly... I know what I'd prefer xD Hehe but a katana would have been sooo hard to hide ^^;;; Nah, smaller weapon for the moment... Maybe later ? ^^ PS : Yea, sorry, it was a bit hard for me at the beginning too, to create all those names (Most are inspired by Digimon by the way, since I was looking at the new series :D)... But don't worry, I'll be killing them fast enough for you to have only to learn the main nam... ooopsie, I shouldn't say that... xD**

* * *

 **Chapter 3 : Mina**

* * *

"- Here is the camera you... asked for..." Taichi announced, gulping as he entered the room and saw for the first time the crime scene.

"- Thanks" Heiji said, getting up to retrieve the item and to stop the man from entering any further. "Have ya been able ta warn the police ?

\- Nah, sorry. I think the snow is blocking the signal and we don't have any wire line here, a tree fell on the cable last month, it's still under repair...

\- That ain' good news..." The Osakan observed as he rubbed the back of his head with annoyance. "Ya said the snow was supposed ta stop at the end o' the night, Yoshida-han?" He added for the silent dark-haired who was back in the hallway after he brought them the requested pairs of gloves.

"- Not before 6 a.m. .

\- Ok, then we'll try ta do our best here an' then lock the room ta keep it as intact as possible..."

The detective of the West was taking a few pictures when Conan's look fell once again on the message so he decided go back to the door.

"- Does someone know any Mina ?" He asked with a childish voice, coming closer to the doctors.

"- She was... " Taichi began with a look behind him, at Ryo, Yamato and Nanako who were still there.

"- A friend of ours, someone we met during our studies." The blue-eyed, Shibe, concluded, stopping for a while to rub Nanako's back to focus on their conversation.

"- How do know that name ?" Ryo added with a dark look at the small boy.

"- There's a message on the wall, near the victim..." Heiji answered for the little detective, also joining the group, camera still in the hand. "Somethin' about a revenge fer that Mina..."

The previously cheerful girl's eyes widened as she heard the dark-skinned and she pushed Yamato away with a pale face.

"- Whoever did this knows... He knows that... " she stuttered, taking a few steps back. "HE'LL COME AFTER ME !

\- Hey, calm down, Nanako-chan..." Taichi tried as he put his hands on her shoulders to keep eye contact with her.

"- Taichi-kun, don't let him kill me, I don't want to be the next..." She was crying, repeating the same words as she buried her face in her hands.

"- Hey, what happened ? We heard Nanako-chan from downstairs..." Hikari asked as she arrived, a bit short breathed, a startled look on the face.

"- Hikari-chan ! I'm sorry, I'll say everything, I'm sorry..." The girl cried, throwing herself in her arms.

"- There, there, it's ok..." The blue-eyed woman said as she gently pat her friend's back, feeling she was shaking. "I'm taking her to her room, she needs to calm down..." She added in a whisper to the others.

"- I'm bringing you a light sedative, she's clearly under shock, she needs it..." Yamato proposed with a low voice.

"- Good idea, please bring it to her room."

Both detectives looked at the girls and the male doctor as they headed to the stairs and then turned to each other to share a look. Yea, they'd have a lot of questions to ask to that group, and especially to that Nanako...

They came back into the room, to finish to take pictures and to have a last look at the crime scene. Heiji had identified what had probably been the weapon that hit the man's head : an old-fashioned light, with a heavy wooden pod. The main one, though, the one that had been used to let that deep cut through the victim's throat was nowhere to be seen. Conan had been checking the window, to see there wasn't any trace of it being forced. And no proof of someone getting out through it, he also checked it thanks to his watch's flashlight.

The boy came back with a negative nod to the Osakan, a bit disappointed not to have found anything conclusive.

With a shrug, the dark-skinned eyed the two men remaining, Ryo and Taichi, both looking a bit paler after what happened. "Sorry ta ask ya this but could any o' ya check the victim ? Since the police won' be able ta come before tomorrow mornin', it wouldn' hurt ta have some additional medical expertise..."

The two doctors looked at each other and, after a silent exchange, Ryo walked in and grabbed a pair of gloves from the box he brought earlier. "I'll do it.

\- Thanks... " Taichi sighed, relieved not to have to do it, not able to think as a professional about the corpse that was on the floor, seeing only his friend.

"- You sure you should trust us, detective ?" The man noticed with a smirk without any joy as he came closer, remembering how the teen had been snappy about letting him in earlier.

"- Who said I would ? We'll be watchin' ya closely, o' course."

The three of them crouched near the body and the doctor started his examination.

After a while, he finally turned at them. "He presents two main injuries. First, a blow behind the head, a non-lethal wound, but, seeing how deep it is, this has been clearly hard enough to knock him down. This is coherent with the fact I can't see any defensive wound. What killed him is the obvious, the second wound, the cut on his throat. It damaged the carotid artery and led to a quick exsanguination. I don't think he was conscious when it happened. The wound is clear and precise, your guy knew what he was doing."

Both teens looked at each other, concluding the same thing. A revenge for someone who belonged to the group, no breaking and entering and someone who had enough knowledge to precisely cut a human neck : they probably wouldn't have to look too hard for that killer, with six doctors remaining in the house, they had a nice pool of potential suspects.

"- Any idea o' what the weapon could be ?

\- Considering how the cut follows the curve of the neck, I don't think it's anything too large. It was something pretty sharp though, just like..."

Ryo stopped as he understood what he was implying, getting to the same conclusion than the detectives.

"- Just like ?" Conan asked after a little while, since the man wasn't finishing his sentence.

"- Just like a scalpel" He admitted with a sigh.

"- Noted." Heiji said, getting up with a straight face, trying to stay as neutral as possible. "I'd say he was killed death between ten an' eleven ?

\- I agree.

\- Ok. I think we're almost done here, we'll be closin' the room, could ya gather everyone in the livin' room?" The Osakan asked as he grabbed the bed sheet to use it to cover the body.

The black-haired looked at him and then nodded, before leaving with Taichi in silence.

"- Sooo... one o' them, eh ? " The Osakan concluded after they left, rubbing his eyes after another sneeze as he turned to the small boy.

"- Clearly... A man, very probably, those women wouldn't have been able to hit that hard someone that tall.

\- Someone he willingly opened his door ta, since no one broke in...

\- Yea, but what disturbs me..." Conan pointed out with a frown.

"- ... is how he got out ?"

The bespectacled detective had a small nod. "The crime may have not been planned but it's hard to picture our guy just running in the hallways with the crime weapon and probably blood on his clothes. A scalpel is small enough to be hidden in a pocket but since there isn't any sink or even water in the rooms, how could he wash his hands ?

\- Could have been more planned than we'd thought then, he could have used something to protect his clothes ? A pair o' gloves an' a coat ? An' wrapped everythin' together ta hide the proofs ?

\- I couldn't find anything here so back to the same question, how to move and dispose of those without being seen...

\- Let's think about it later" The dark-skinned shrugged, heading to the door to fetch the key that was on it. "They're waitin' fer us downstairs, let's first check their alibis, we may learn somethin' interestin'...

\- Better check their rooms too..." Conan added as he followed Heiji outside and looked at him lock the door.

o.O.o

When the teens arrived in the living room, they first headed to check on Kazuha and Ran, who were now fully clothed and a hot drink in the hands.

"- You ok, Ran-neechan ?" Conan inquired, coming closer to the girl with a concerned look.

"- Yes, don't worry Conan-kun. It was just a bit... impressive." She answered with a sad smile.

"- Any idea of who did that ?" Kazuha asked when she saw Heiji was also here.

"- We're on it, don' worry" He answered with a reassuring smile, before focusing again when, just like the small detective, his eyes laid on the faces in the room.

Everyone was here, as asked, expect for Nanako and Hikari. The group looked tensed and all were quiet, some even looking worried, as if they knew the situation could only worsen.

"- Thanks fer gatherin' here" The Osakan started when he saw everyone's looks were on him. "I don' know if Shibe-han or Akiyama-han told ya but apparently, this murder is related ta someone ya knew. Mina."

A buzz of whispers rose from the group, with some 'no way...' that could be heard or seen on the faces.

"- I think it may be necessary at that point ta know who she was..." The detective added with inquisitive eyes at the six medics around him.

"- As I already told you, she was a member from our group during our studies" Yamato finally explained after a while as he saw no one was daring to talk. "But she killed herself, five months ago.

\- Any particular reason ?

\- There was that police investigation..." Meiko explained with a low and sad voice. "It was eating her... She was accused of being part of a drug trade group that was made of people belonging to the medical community. They were supposedly embezzling meds from the hospitals and selling them abroad but the investigation has been kind of dropped after she died...

\- Such bullshit..." Ryo observed, a grimace of anger distorting his face.

"- There were proofs, Ryo, you can't deny it..." Taichi objected. "And we all knew how hard for her it was, even with her Baito, to pay for her studies...

\- She would never have done that !" The dark-haired spurted vehemently, getting up to face his friend. "It would have been against everything she was !

\- Ok, Nanako-chan is at last sleeping... Uh, did I miss anything ?" Hikari asked as she came in and saw both Ryo and Taichi facing each other with angered looks.

"- Nah, just some chatting... Right, _gents_ ?" Yamato insisted with a reproving look at his both friends.

"- Yea, sorry..." Yoshida apologized before settling down again.

The girl still had a curious look when she sat but didn't insist.

"- Sooo, now that everyone is here..." Heiji announced, partly to break the heavy silence that was settling in the room. "Any idea which one o' ya last saw Ishida-han? Where were ya all between ten an' eleven ?

\- Are we being suspected ?" Taichi concluded with a bored voice.

"- Since that message clearly mentions a person known ta ya all, clearly. An' the fact the weapon is very probably a scalpel doesn' help...

\- What ?!" Meiko exclaimed with surprise, at the idea the killer could be one of them, and she wasn't the only one to be startled, seeing the faces of the others.

Yamato even got up with a frown, to fetch something in his bag, the one with his material he had left downstairs after he had treated Ran. He took out a kind of cloth and unfolded it, to reveal some shiny items and his frown deepened even more.

"- One of my scalpels is missing..." He announced. At the others' suspicious looks, he felt the need to justify. "Hey, my bag was just there, you all knew, anyone could have...

\- I'm not accusin' ya o' anythin'..." Heiji wanted to clarify. "But could ya answer ta the questions I just asked ?

\- Last time I saw Ren was when we finished playing cards with you all, so around 10 I think ? Went to my room after that, I worked on some patient files I brought with me. Alone, of course, so no one can testify... I stopped as soon as I heard Nanako-san's voice and rushed to Ren's room.

\- Thank ya. What about ya all ?

\- I've been in my room since dinner, on my computer" Ryo shrugged, also aware there was no real alibi in there.

"- Same than Yamato for me, last place I saw him was here, in the living room" Taichi admitted before turning to Meiko. "And after, Meiko-chan asked me to cut some wood because she was afraid we wouldn't have enough for the bath since there were some additional guests. I was was just coming back when I heard Nanako-chan.

\- Yes, I asked him to" The girl confirmed with a nod. "After our card game, I went to wash the last dishes in the kitchen with Hikari-chan. We may have been the last ones to see Ren-kun as he followed us to ask for a cup of coffee.

\- I prepared it for him and then he left..." Hikari added, comforting her friend's story.

"- And then I left to take a bath, around 10h15, and came back to the living room around 11, as we agreed with Hikari-chan.

\- I was in my room in the meanwhile. Of course no one can testify for it" The blue-eyed girl added. "And back into the leaving room to meet Meiko, at 11.

\- Well noted..." The Osakan confirmed while Conan was scribbling notes so they wouldn't forget anything. "One last thin', does any o' ya know why Takeno-han went ta Ishida-han's room ?

\- I think they were in a relationship... " Meiko pointed out with her head down.

"- What ?!" Taichi exclaimed, looking shocked. "I've never heard that, why would they hide it from us ?!

\- Perhaps because you were her ex ?" Yamato proposed, a bit embarrassed but, considering the other's reaction, he clearly didn't take well the news.

"- That's..." The man couldn't go on, knowing himself his feelings for Nanako were still too strong for him to stay calm. "I can't believe she'd...

\- But that would make sense... " Hikari declared. "That would explain her reaction... And the noises I could hear from her room the last two nights around 11 : she was probably going to see him...

\- We'll confirm it with her once she'll be awake" Heiji concluded as he registered the information in his brain. "I'm sorry but, since none o' ya got any conclusive alibi, we'll have ta check yer stuff an' yer rooms. The weapon is still missin'..."

The group exchanged bored looks but nevertheless agreed, not really knowing what else they could do so it was easier to follow the teen detective's guidance.

o.O.o

"- All that for nothing, great..." Ryo concluded with irony after a 2-hours long search that didn't bring anything new. "I'll be going back to my room then.

\- That's not a good idea, Yoshida-han, not when there's a high probability the killer might be among us..." Heiji objected with a frown of annoyance.

"- That's what you said but we didn't find anything, kid" The black haired pointed out after a yawn. "I'd prefer to stay in my room. And they all have locks, that's safe enough for me...

\- Yup, for once, I agree" Taichi added as he got up to head to his room. "No need to pack ourselves in the living room, a proper bed sounds better.

\- It does make sense..." Yamato shrugged as both left. "Rooms are probably safer as long as you lock them...

\- Yes, but if that guy finds his way in, bein' alone is clearly a disadvantage... " The detective of the West sighed. "We'd need at least not ta leave Takeno-han alone...

\- I'll stay with her then..." Hikari proposed.

"- I'll come in two hours to replace you, you don't need to do this all night" Meiko volunteered with a small smile.

"- And I'll finish the night. Good enough for you, detective ?

\- It's not as if we had any other choice... " The Osakan stated with a bored look at Yamato.

"- Good night then."

"- This is a so bad idea... " Conan muttered as the last three left, leaving them alone with Kazuha and Ran in the living room.

"- We tried ta warn them...

\- Won't help me to feel any better if anything happens..."

And indeed, a bit later, the small detective's fears turned out to be justified when a loud noise echoed in the lodge along with, for the second time that night, a female yell.

* * *

 **Since some had difficulties to follow who was who (yea, I know, it's pretty easier when you see all of the OC on a screen : ) ), here is a little reminder of the group our friends ended up with :**

 **Shibe Yamato : The first one they met, the one who tended Ran. Quite nice tempered, brown-haired, blue eyed, tall.**

 **Akiyama Taichi : The second one they met. The funny one of the group, likes joking. A little bit plumb, brown- haired and eyed. Normal height.**

 **Ishida Ren : The last they met. A bit full of himself. Pretty, blue-eyed, black-haired, tall. And the first victim.**

 **Yoshida Ryo : He was with the first group they met on the slopes. He's not the kind to talk much. Normal height, wide shoulders, dark haired and eyed.**

 **Takeno Nanako : She welcomed them into the lodge. She also likes to joke and tends to smile. Fake blond-haired and brown-eyed. Small and tiny. She has a kind of break down when they find Ryo.**

 **Takaishi Hikari : One of the last they met. She's calm and mature. Black-haired and blue-eyed, tall.**

 **Oikawa Meiko : She welcomed them too. She's something like the group's mother, the kind to prepare meals and to be careful of everyone's well-being. Normal height, brown haired and eyed.**

 **? Mina : a former member of their group, killed herself 5 month ago.**

 **All are around their 30ies.**


	4. Chapter 4 - Footsteps in the snow

**Hey !**

 **D-2 before Christmas and I'm still publishing murder stories... Should I really ? Maybe I won't get my presents xD**

 ***shrugs* Never mind, writing is fun, I won't stop for something as petty as Christmas :p**

 **PS: Since some mentioned it was a bit difficult to remember who was who with all those OC, I edited the end of chapter 3 with the names and some info about the characters for this case, hope it'll help : )**

 **o.O.o**

 **Purpalz Miner : Haha, it doesn't help, but it's funnier like that, right ? I need murders for Conan and Heiji ^^ PS: I don't know what's wrong but I never get a warning when you review, first time I see that o.O Lucky I double-check ^^;;;  
**

 **Laury Rose : Answer in that chapter as to who died!^^ Yep, I did my best so all would have a small suspicious side... Are they hiding a hideous past ? Or are they hiding the murder weapon ? Or are we just paranoid ? xD Yup, I think that even if I had decided to have everyone in the living room, I'd have found a way... Just a nice poison or wait for any to go to the toilet and... bam ! ^^ Hmm about Nanako, you'll see. Same for the relations between each, we'll be speaking a bit about their past in chapter 5 : )**

 **emmahoshi : Don't worry, I wouldn't want you to fail your deadlines because you're reviewing me xD Heard that, so you'll find a reminder at the end of chap 3 as said in the intro :) Haha, it was 'Ren' but yea, I also tend to have problems with gorgeous people that's perhaps why he died so fast xD Heh, we'll slowly see where the OC was implicated and how, this is not a 5-chap story, I'll need a few cases before we can see how big the whole picture is : ) Good luck with your papers if you have some remaining ^^;;;  
**

 **Anilover : Don't worry, I guess we're all busy with the incoming celebrations : ) Yea, as I said, I wanted to go back to what DC was... But we won't have only mysteries, there'll be some action since that's what I prefer ! :D Haha, yes he is. ^^; Well, in France, they've got a pretty good income, it's perhaps different in other countries... I know in Japan it's also the same. So yea, I'll be back to my old rhythm : twice a week, one chapter each time. Hope I'll be able to stick to it, I'm a bit less comfortable than usual in terms of pre-written / pre-worked chapters ^^; Oh, thanks, I didn't know I was good with summaries, I always feel I'm so clumsy with those...^^; But yea, a true bad guy will appear. A smart one : )  
**

* * *

 **Chapter 4 - Footsteps in the snow**

* * *

"- What happened ?!" Conan inquired as he and Heiji arrived on the scene, panting from their run.

They had been sharing a room with the girls on the third floor : they didn't want to let the girls alone so the four of them slept together, Ran and Kazuha in the bed and them on the couch. Expecting something to happen, they had kept their clothes on and had been fast to arrive after the yell, to see Meiko was already standing in front of Nanako's room's door.

"- I... Hikari-chan didn't answer when I came to replace at Nanako-chan's side..." She managed to explain, though they could see she was shocked. "I called Yamato-kun and Taichi-kun so they would force the door and..."

The detectives approached and looked in the same direction than the woman, into the room.

The two men she mentioned were here, Yamato crouching on the floor, near the window, bent with a concerned expression on Hikari who, luckily, seemed to be only unconscious. Taichi was near the bed, having probably checked Nanako's vitals but there was nothing left to do for her. He was now staring at the wall, his face so pale it was almost green.

"- What happened ?" Heiji asked once again as they came in.

"- The girls have been attacked, probably from the outside..." The blue eyed declared as he turned his head to look at the newcomers. "Hikari-san has been knocked out and Nanako-san has been... She's dead."

Both boys had both a bitter taste in their mouth, not really happy to have been right once again and perhaps even feeling a bit guilty not to have been able to convince the group that staying together was safer.

Noticing Taichi was still frozen, Conan came closer to him and his eyes laid on what he has been looking at since they came in.

 _"Another down. One left."_

"- Taichi-niisan ?" The small detective dared to ask. "Are you alright ? Taichi-niisan ?

\- Uh, yea, I'm good... Sorry, it's the shock to see... " The man's look fell on Nanako-san who was on the bed.

The boy squinted at him, feeling suspicious, guessing perhaps the fact he found his friend dead wasn't the only thing that shocked the brown-haired doctor. But, well, the most important now was to find out what happened so he stopped looking at him and focused on the second victim.

While Ren's murder had been made spectacular, this one was closer to the kind he could usually see. The blond-haired girl had been stabbed with a scalpel right into the heart, probably the one that had also been the previous murder's weapon. Her face was calm, she probably didn't even notice the attack, still sedated by the drugs Hikari and Yamato gave her after she went into shock when she found Ren's body. The two doctors were still on the floor, with Heiji crouching near them, and now Ryo was standing in the entrance, his attention also caught by the yell.

"- I've found a puncture wound at the base of her neck, she may had been injected with something" was explaining Yamato to the Osakan.

"- Found any syringe?

\- Not yet...

\- Is that what you're looking for ?" Ryo asked as he bent to retrieve a small item he almost stepped on.

"- Don'... touch it..." The dark-skinned finished with a bored look at the black-haired when he saw he was too late in his warning and that the guy had just left his fingerprints on an essential proof. "Never mind...

\- Could you show it to me ?" The blue-eyed doctor asked to his friend, who came closer to show a little syringe to him. The man had a disappointed sigh when he saw it. "Nothing is written... I hope it wasn't anything deadly, I can't just treat Hikari-san randomly...

\- There's nothing we can do but wait..." Ryo agreed with his usual dark face.

"- Heiji-niichan ?

\- Yes, K.. Conan-kun ?

\- I think you may see one or two interesting things over here..." The small detective explained, barely stopping himself from rolling his eyes at the half-slip from his friend. His annoyance from their last conversation was quickly coming back...

He mentally pushed those thoughts away and waited for Heiji to come closer.

"- This French window was opened... And the glass near the lock has been cut.

\- Would explain how that guy could attack Takaishi-han from behind... If it hasn' been smashed, there wouldn' have been any noise..." The Osakan proposed, taking his handkerchief out to open the glass door and look at the hole in it.

"- Yes... There are some footsteps outside also. Probably from a male, according to the size." Conan added with a lower voice, not to be heard by the others.

"- Could ya lend me yer watch ?" The detective of the West asked after he squinted to see something outside on his right.

"- Sure."

"- Some snow is missin' on that pipe connected ta the gutter." He concluded with a sneeze after he bent as much as he could against the balcony's railing. "Goes all the way down, looks like there are more footsteps on the ground, we should also check.

\- So, our culprit came from the outside..." The small detective proposed, still with a low voice. "He climbed to the third floor thanks to that pipe and cut that window... We'll have to find his material, he didn't leave anything here...

\- Unfortunately fer us, if it was a glass cutter, it can be pretty small... So then the guy managed ta open discreetly the window, drugged Takaishi-han before she could even yell an' stabbed Takeno-han...

\- That crime is clearly less elaborated than Ishida-san's..." Conan concluded, his arms crossed against his little chest as he gave the case some thoughts.

"- But still, the syringe, the glass cutter... the culprit was well prepared... Question is, what's the link between Ishida-han, Takeno-han an' that Mina an' how that man discovered it...

\- Could be related to that drug trade ?

\- Ya mean ya think some o' them were part o' it an' tried ta frame their friend fer their crimes ?

\- Could explain everything, right ? The culprit found out what happened recently and threw himself in that vendetta... Oh, by the way, I think we should ask a few questions to Akiyama-san..." The boy pointed out with a suspicious look at the plumb man. "He seems to have taken that message on the wall very personally...

\- Noted... Atchoo !" The Osakan sneezed once again with a chill.

"- And I thought a Baka wouldn't catch any cold... Serves you right for hanging around without a jacket." His best friend concluded with a smirk.

"- This is just another proof I'm _not_ a Baka, if any was needed... " Heiji retorted, a smirk also on his face. "An' ya'd better be more compassionate about that cold since, allow me ta remind it ta ya, I was without my jacket because I was helpin' ta help yer girl.

\- Got that, got that..." Conan admitted with a pinch of guilt, even forgetting to deny the 'yer' girl part. "Well, my compassion will start by having you back in, it's freezing, and you don't need additional cold !"

Both detectives came back in and closed the door behind them quickly, chilling from the low temperatures.

"- Anything interesting ?" Ryo asked as he saw they were back into the room.

"- Hmm apparently, the culprit came from outside an' used a pipe ta climb here.

\- So that's the end of your "the-culprit-is-among-us" theory..." Taichi concluded with an ironic look at the Osakan.

"- Not necessarily..."

"- Hey, easy, Hikari-san, you've been drugged, don't try to move so fast."

The three's attention focused on Yamato and Hikari, since the woman was starting to wake up, so they all came closer.

"- How are you feeling ?" The plumb Akiyama asked with concern.

"- If things could stop moving, that would be great..." She said with a small smile as she sat. "I feel like I have a hangover, but without the alcohol...

\- Ya remember what happened ?" Heiji wondered, not wanting to be too blunt, the girl probably ignoring one of her friends had been killed and was lying just there.

"- I think I dozed off a bit... I felt some cold on my neck that woke me up but... I just had enough time to see someone was here before I felt something stung my neck..." The blue-eyed girl explained, rubbing her temples as she spoke. "And Nanako-chan ? Is she safe ?!" She suddenly remembered, trying to get up to have a look at the bed.

"- She's dead..." Yamato declared with a sad face.

Hikari gaped and her eyes started to shine but she was able to keep control on herself and breathed deeply.

"- I'm sorry ta have ta ask that ta ya so soon but do ya remember anythin' about that intruder ?" The detective of the West asked with the gentlest voice he could.

"- I..." The woman stopped and gulped to bring some strength to her voice. "He had a ski mask and a hood so I couldn't see his face. I think he was tall. That's about all..." She concluded, bowing her head with sorrow and guilt from not being able to remember much more.

"- Hey, it's ok..." Yamato said with a low voice as he started to pat her.

The two detectives got up and moved a bit away, to be followed by Taichi and Ryo.

"- So what now ?" The brown-haired doctor asked, looking intensely at the Osakan.

"- As I told ya tonight, we need ta stay packed... In a few hours, we'll be able ta call the police an' all this will be over.

\- We have two dead bodies here, and your culprit seems pretty aggressive..." Ryo objected with vehemence. "Never mind that snow, I'll take the risk and take the car to warn the police...

\- This is our only way out, we can't let you leave with it !" Taichi snapped with an aggressive tone.

"- Then what, want to come ?

\- I..." The other hesitated, concern now on his face. But there was also something else. Distrust.

"- You... ? What? Afraid of the snow ? Or... I can't believe it, you think I could have done that ?!

\- Hey, this is not the main problem right now... " Heiji intervened to calm the two doctors down. "I'll be goin' with Yoshida-han, ok ? Like this, no chance fer him ta leave with the car an', since I'm not related ta that suicide, I'm sure not ta be that 'one left' mentioned on the wall." He proposed, trying to keep his eyes on the doctors to avoid the small detective's look of pure disapproval.

"- That's settled then. I'm going to shovel the snow in front of the garage, if anyone wants to help me." Ryo announced with a look at Taichi, who had still suspicious eyes laid on him.

"- I'm coming" The man volunteered.

After they both left, Conan tugged his friend's sleeve to have his attention.

"- This could be dangerous, Hattori..." He pointed out with a low but reproving voice after the other detective crouched near him. "We know the culprit is a male and if that Akiyama was indeed part of the drug dealers, there are very few choices left...

\- I'll be careful, don' worry ! Got my o-mamori with me, remember ?" The Osakan joked to try to chase away the serious look on his best friend's face. "An' we need ta do somethin', I wouldn' want our culprit ta go berserk in the lodge with the girls here...

\- ...OK." The boy agreed with a sigh. "Just wait a sec', I have an extra DB badge in my bag, I'd prefer you to take it. It's pretty short-ranged and the snow may lower the signal but...

\- Got it, I'll take yer gadget." The dark-skinned smiled as he got up.

o.O.o

"- I can' believe ya forced me ta..." Heiji face palmed from the passenger seat. "I told ya it could be dangerous, what if we're stuck in the snow all night ?

\- Then I'll help !" Kazuha cheerfully retorted from the back seat.

The Osakan shook his head with a sigh as he settled back against his own seat. When Conan had fetched his badge, he had been forced to explain to the girls what happened, including the fact the dark-skinned volunteered to fetch the police.

The pony-tailed girl, with a not-so-subtle mix of arguments and threats, supported by an amused Ran, had insisted to come with them. Hattori had given up after a last exchange of "Ahou!" in which the girl mentioned she was big enough to defend herself when, considering how often he came back with wounds, on his side, he didn't seem able to.

The three of them, Ryo, Kazuha and Heiji, were now in the car, trying to grab anything they could find as the vehicle was, despite his slowness, shaking like some kind of roller coaster, due to the wind and the uneven road.

The heavy silence was interrupted by a beeping noise and it took a little while for the detective of the West to notice it came from his own pocket, just where he put the badge.

"- Yea, K.. Conan-kun ?" The Osakan corrected when he saw the dark-haired doctor looked briefly at him.

"- ... Heij...-niichan ? ... hear me ?

\- Barely, there are a lot o' interferences..." The teen deplored with a look of disappointment at the gadget.

"- You... to come bac...

\- Hattori-kun, Yoshida-... probably... culprit !" Ran's voice said with urge as she probably took the badge from Conan's hands.

The detective quickly switched off the badge with a grimace at the girl's too blunt declaration but he was too late, their driver had heard it all.

"- This is a misunderstanding I bet..." Ryo deplored with a low voice, keeping a straight face.

"- If it is really, drive back ta the lodge an' we'll solve that there..." Heiji asked firmly, not wanting the other to notice his stress.

"- I won't go back there. I bet that hypocritical bunch is trying to frame me for those murders just like they framed Mina for their traffic, I won't let them !

\- If ya're innocent, ya won' risk anythin'." The dark-skinned pointed out to calm the man down, mildly convinced of his innocence, but he couldn't take the risk to let the man becoming a threat to him, not when Kazuha was there.

"- Ha ! Mina also was but it didn't prevent her from finding the police at her door ! She knew about their damn traffic but she never told me who in the group was part of it ... She wanted to reason them, so they would go to the police by themselves. And they killed her ! They so deserve what's happening to them right now...

\- No one deserves ta be killed, Yoshida-han. Turn back now."

The man ignored him and accelerated, throwing accidentally the car against another pile of snow that shook them hardly. The Osakan's eyes widened when that shock moved the man's coat, revealing a knife that was at his belt.

He had no choice, that man was dangerous, they had to stop the car and get away as soon as possible.

"- Kazuha, hang on !" Heiji spurted as he threw himself on Ryo and grabbed the wheel to slam the car against a tree.

The teen hit his head against the dashboard, not able to protect himself as his both arms were on the wheel, but ignored it and jumped out of the car to open Kazuha's car door.

"- Ya ok ?

\- Yea I think... Hey, yer head is bleeding !" The girl noticed with concern when she saw some blood was dripping along her friend's face.

"- Just a scratch, don' worry... Let's go !"

The detective of the West grabbed the pony-tailed girl's hand and they both rushed towards the woods, to put as much distance as possible between them and the dark-haired.

* * *

 **Oh, looks like a tiny cliffhanger : )**

 **Merry Christmas to you all and see you next Sunday ^_^**


	5. Chapter 5 - Snow

**Heya !**

 **Hope you had nice Christmas celebrations and that you're ready for the new year ; )**

 **Time to end that little cliff I left you with, this case is close to its end ! : )**

 **PS : Sorry, I did my best but I'm sure you'll find some typo mistakes since I'm not at my best right now ^^;; (NO, that's not due to too much alcohol or too many chocolates for Christmas ! xD)**

 **o.O.o**

 **Anilover : Yea, I needed too, I can't stop myself xD That Heiji - Kazuha scene in that chapter is perhaps one of the first things (along with the shin- hei chat about their middle school case) I thought about for this fic : ) More info on the culprit in this chapter : )**

 **emmahoshi : Don't worry, you can keep the chapter 3 open as a reference as you read the other if it's too hard... No need to remember all of those, only a few ae important :p Maa, this case could be more complicated than it sounds... We'll see in the later chapters : )**

 **Laury Rose : Haha, they're in Japan, the place where even criminals are good guys who wouldn't hurt teens, right... ? :p Yea, the emergency won over the carefulness... That sounds like something Heiji could have done in fact... xD We'll see in that chapter : ) And once again *pushes away everything related to murder in her fic* Merry Christmas ^_^**

* * *

 **Chapter 5 - Snow**

* * *

Lost in his thoughts, Conan stamped his shoes on the welcome mat to remove the snow that had stuck to them before removing them to go in. After waving goodbye to Heiji and Kazuha with a last 'be careful' to his best friend, he had been inspecting the snow below Nanako's balcony.

The footprints were the exact same than the ones they saw up there : definitively male's, considering the size and the shape. The only problem was that the culprit, when he left a lot of traces near the lodge, had carefully erased any other proof and there was no way to know in which direction he left.

It had been easy to do, with all that snow, but the small detective was nevertheless disappointed as he came back to the lodge.

With a chill, he got rid of his heavy coat and headed to the living room, where he knew the others were supposed to be.

When he didn't think the atmosphere would be cheerful, he wasn't expecting to face such tension. Taichi, for the second time since they found Nanako, was the one who looked the worse, his face still white, alone in a corner, as to avoid everyone. Conan wasn't the only one to notice this, as Hikari came closer to his friend with a worried face.

"- Hey, you ok ? I know you were close to Nanako-chan but... We should stick together ! You were so snappy with Ryo-kun previously, we shouldn't act like that after those murders...

\- Ryo is probably the killer, I wasn't going to let him alone with the car when our phones can't connect..." The brown-haired man pointed out with a hard voice.

"- What do you mean ?" The bespectacled child asked with a puzzled look at the doctor.

"- He was... He was dating Mina-chan !

\- What ?!" Meiko wondered, taken out of her daydream by that statement. "But she never mentioned anything to us...

\- They didn't want us to know... Ryo's family is an old one, they would have never accepted someone of a lower social status for their son. Their relatives would have tried everything to stand between them if they heard of it...

\- But how did you learn that, then ?" Hikari pointed out, a bit surprised. "I can't imagine Ryo-kun admitting that secret to you, you're hardly close...

\- I heard it from Mina-chan. Tried to ask her out a year ago one night we were all drunk and she told me she was already with someone. A few glasses later, she mentioned Ryo...

\- So what ? You're implying he's having his revenge ? For her ? He somehow thinks some of us are responsible ?" Meiko asked, with a bit of irony, not really believing those accusations.

"- Sounds pretty plausible to me..."

"- Then we should warn Hattori-kun !" Ran suddenly realized, getting on her feet with a worried face. "He and Kazuha-chan may be in danger !

\- I can try to call him with Agasa-hakase's badge..." The small detective proposed, getting his own badge out while the girl came closer to him.

He pushed the little switch on it to send a signal to the Osakan's badge, hoping he'd notice quickly.

"- Yea, K.. Con...-kun ?" The dark-skinned voice answered after a while.

"- Heiji-niichan ? Do you hear me ?

\- Barely... are lot ... interferences...

\- You need to come back..." The boy explained, trying to stay evasive not to alert Ryo.

But Ran didn't get it and, feeling she needed to warn her friends from that immediate danger, she grabbed the badge to say with urge : "Hattori-kun, Yoshida-san is probably the culprit ! "

They both heard a noise at the other side of the line, implying Heiji had switched off his own badge... Or someone did for him.

" _Crap..._ " Conan swore in his head, paling with concern for his friends.

"- We need to look for them !" Ran insisted, mirroring Conan's worried expression.

"- Ran-chan, with that blizzard..." Meiko pointed out as she sadly shook her head.

"- But...

\- Ran-san, we don't know where they are and since they used the car they could be dozen of miles away..." Yamato tried to reason with the brown-haired girl. "We need to wait for that storm to end else we'd die within minutes..."

Conan, perfectly aware of these arguments and agreeing with them even if he didn't like to, nevertheless growled with frustration. He had tried to switch discreetly his glasses on to look for Heiji's badge but something, the snow or the distance probably, prevented him from getting any signal.

"- We can't do anything right now so let's rest a bit..." Hikari proposed. "The weather forecast said it would end around six a.m., let's meet down here around this time and we'll go look for them, ok ?"

Both girl and boy reluctantly nodded to answer to her.

"- Maybe we could go back to our rooms, it should be safe now..." She added as she turned to the other. "We have very little proof but I think Taichi-kun hit close to the mark when he said Ryo-kun was very probably the culprit...

\- Yea, since it's going to be short, better have some rest in a real bed than on a sofa here..." The plumb brown-eyed agreed as he got up.

The group started to get up under Conan's bored look. Ok, Ryo was very probably the culprit but there was that little chance it wasn't him or he was working with someone and that fact could have turned that decision to sleep each in his own room quite dangerous.

But, having no real arguments, he just shrugged and looked outside, to see the wind whirling with a huge pack of snow and slamming it against the window. This weather was clearly not fitted to be out, may it be man or beast and that worried him.

And there was that little pinch of guilt in the small detective's heart. If he didn't give his friend that badge, Ryo would never have heard they were suspecting him... And the last thing the teens did was to fight over his own secretiveness... He clenched his little fists and looked away when he heard Ran was calling him.

 _"Please be safe..."_

o.O.o

"- Oy, Ku... Conan-kun, do ya hear me ... ? Nee-chan ? Crap..." Heiji swore as he tried for the third time already to call his small friend through his badge.

"- Not working ?" Kazuha concluded with a worried frown.

"- Nah... An' it prob'ly means we're not goin' the right way..."

Panting after that long run, the Osakan tried to protect his eyes with his arm to check if he could see anything but... There was only snow. They had ran as far away as they had been able to from the road, not really looking at where they were going, the detective just trying to put as much distance as he could between Ryo and them. They were perhaps safe for now but for how long ? Despite their thick vests, he could feel Kazuha was cold, her hand, still in his, was shaking at each blow of the icy wind. He had thought about getting under some tree's cover but the snow was regularly knocked down by the blizzard so that would have meant taking the risk to be buried under hundreds of pounds of snow...

Lost in his thoughts, the teen stumbled as one of his feet dug deeper than the other in the white powder.

"- Heiji ! Ya ok ?" The pony-tailed girl asked with a concerned face, trying to pull his hand to help him on his feet.

"- Yea, yea..." The dark-skinned answered to reassure her but he knew he wouldn't last much longer. He had been wincing on his feet for a while already : the boost the adrenaline gave him was fading away, leaving him with a huge headache and chilling with fever.

The teen rubbed his clothes to remove the snow that was on it with a tired sigh.

"- What can we do ?" The girl faintly asked when her friend sneezed once again, running out of ideas as to how to protect them from that storm.

"- Let's try ta build ourselves a kind o' shelter, ok ?

\- Build ? Do ya really want us ta stay outside in that cold..." Kazuha objected with a frown.

"- We're not goin' anywhere like this, we don' even know where we're headin' ta... " The Osakan explained as he looked around him and sat on his knees after a few steps to dig some snow. "Help me !"

Twenty minutes later, both teens were sharing the small space of their improvised igloo.

"- Oh, come on, open yer vest, Heiji..." Kazuha ordered as she opened her, feeling he was shaking against her shoulder.

"- The heck ? If ya want ta die faster, that's an idea..." The other answered with chattering teeth, putting his hand on hers to stop her.

"- Ahou ! Let's ... stick ta each other, we'll get warmer like this..." The girl stuttered with a slight blush.

"- Uhh, that's... " The Osakan started, also blushing now and that was saying something with such a dark shade of skin.

His friend gently brushed his hand away and opened his zipper, not really encountering any resistance from him

"- Ya're freezing, Heiji, so no buts..." She stated as she cuddled against him, circling his chest with her arms.

Despite the fact his blushing was even brighter, Heiji had a sigh of satisfaction when he felt her warmth. He had been so cold and she was...

He gulped to stop his heart from accelerating as he remembered how embarrassing the situation was.

The detective finally dared to speak. "Kazuha... I'm... I'm sorry, I've been a bit hard with ya earlier...

\- Nah, I was also being an ahou..." Her muffled voice answered. "I knew I wasn't able ta but I was too stubborn ta... And Ran-chan got hurt because of me...

\- Don' worry..." The Osakan gently smiled as he patted her. "Ya know Nee-chan, she wouldn' fuss about such a petty thin', I'm sure she already asked ya ta forget it all...

\- Yea, she did...

\- Then stop worryin' about it, I don' think she'd like ta see ya bein' gloomy ! She'll scold ya even more fer that."

The detective felt the girl giggle against him.

"- Yea, ya're right...

\- I know." He smirked with a protective look at her.

Heiji finally put his arms around her and, tired, he let his chin fall against her head.

o.O.o

"- Hattori ! Hattori !"

The Osakan cracked an eye opened as he heard his name and finally a ray of light hit his still half-asleep face. Looking in that direction, he saw a little glove was digging into the snow to break into their improvised shelter.

"- We're here, Kudô..." He confirmed with a hoarse voice, raising his hand to protect his eyes from the daylight. "Hey, wake up, Kazuha, they found us..." The dark-haired added for the girl, gently shaking her awake, still in the same position than previously, getting a sleepy moan as an answer.

"- Kami, thanks..." The small detective sighed with relief as he saw both his friends were alive, here under that pile of snow. He switched off his glasses' radar now that he found them and turned to Ran. "Ran-neechan, they are here !" He yelled.

"- Yamato-san, Conan-kun found them !" She echoed, calling the last person of their group.

Two minutes later, two additional pairs of hands were digging into the roughly built igloo, to reveal both Osakans, still cuddling to each other.

"- Are we interrupting something ?" Conan smirked with a low voice to his best friend when he saw how physically close he was of his childhood friend.

"- Ahou... " The other retorted with a glare, though he couldn't stop some red to appear on his cheeks.

Kazuha, now totally awake, jumped away from him as she remembered how she grabbed him the previous night with embarrassment and she did her best not to meet the dark skinned detective's eyes, though there wasn't much risk as he was apparently trying to do the same.

"- Think you two can get up ?" Yamato asked with an encouraging smile, trying to hide his worry for the teens, wanting to check on them as soon as possible as he was aware of how risky it could be to stay that long under a blizzard.

"- Thanks, Ran-chan..." Kazuha said after the girl helped her on her feet and grabbed her in a firm hug.

"- I'm so glad you're both alive, we were so worried, with Ryo-san on the loose..." The long-haired girl admitted with shiny eyes.

"- Do you know where he is ?" The small detective asked to Heiji as the doctor helped him to get up.

"- Nah..." The Osakan deplored, before he winced dangerously when the man let him go.

"- Ok, easy, I'll help you...

\- Nah, I'll be alright, thank ya..." The teen politely refused, being stubborn as usual when he probably was in need of some support.

"- That's a nice gash you got near your temple for someone _alright..._ " Yamato frowned as he noticed the teen's wound when they started to walk.

"- Got it in the car accident...

\- A car accident ?!" Ran worried as she heard him.

"- Yea, after ya warned us..." The dark skinned explained, voluntarily staying vague as he didn't want the girl to feel guilty for what happened as her blunt accusation was very probably what drove the guy mad, "... I tried ta reason with Ryo-san but he wouldn' hear a thin'... An' since he had a knife, I preferred us ta try ta escape...

\- Heiji crashed the car and we ran as far as possible..." Kazuha added with a chill. "We haven't seen him since...

\- Hikari-san, Taichi-kun and Meiko-san are helping the police to find him." Yamato explained with a concerned face. "We don't know yet if they found anything.

\- Ah, ya finally have been able ta contact them ?" The detective of the West noticed.

"- Yea, early this morning." Conan confirmed with a nod. "But we didn't want to wait for them so the three of us left a bit before they arrived, to look for you...

\- That was a bit risky but thanks !" The Osakan smiled, lowering his look to meet his best friend's eyes, who shrugged as an answer. "But then, how do ya know the three others are lookin' fer him ?" he wondered, looking at Yamato and Ran with an interrogative look.

"- Hikari-san is keeping me informed..." Ran declared as she took her phone out. "We exchanged our numbers earlier... Ah, speaking of the devil... Yes ? " She answered as she felt her phone vibrated. Her face went darker as the call went on.

"- A problem ?" Kazuha asked when she saw her friend's face.

"- They found Ryo-san. He's dead."


	6. Chapter 6 - Resolution

**Heya !**

 **And here we are, let's wrap this case... more or less. But no time to think too much about what could be an unsatisfying end, as another case is already near ; )**

 **But clearly, as some of you already noticed, there'll be more than what's written to that case... We'll see that later ; )**

 **Hope you'll have some fun new year celebrations ! See you in 2016 ^_^**

 **o.O.o**

 **emmahoshi : it will : ) Ah, yea, as I said, it's a bit hard to start a story, it always take a few chapters to make it interesting ; ) Haha, yea, I'm thinking about it too, was fun to have those two working together... The trick is to find another way for them to meet and cooperate so I'll need to find a good idea first : ) And before, I wanted to work about Dark hours as I said I may write the whole story... so little time, so many things to do : ) Yup but well, it was because she was worried and in the end, everything went well for them :) Haha, lucky for Heiji she was sleeping, else he'd have to find another pun with 'Kudô' in it and I don't think his brain was awake enough for that : ) Ah, you knew ? But see in that chapter... Maybe it's him ? or not ? :p**

 **Anilover : Haha, well, let's see how Ryo died in that chapter... But maybe there's more to it ? ; ) Uhh, I wanted to warn, since I had that huge headache for several days already so I couldn't focus really well. Perhaps I have that super power to find every mistake when my eyes are half closed ? xD It's better now, thank you : )**

 **Purpalz Miner : Yea, dead to the culprit ! Hmmm... He was the culprit, ne ? ^^;**

 **Laury Rose : That's some pretty good questions ; ) Hmm I didn't want to be too mean, it's just the beginning of that fic after all^^ And yea, I wanted them to cuddle but since none is able to admit his / her feelings, I needed a good reason and here it is xD**

 **aerinechan : Re ! Ah bah il vaut mieux, je suis un peu lente en ce moment donc j'avance moyennement vite du coup le français en est d'autant retardé... Et oui, je voulais retourner à l'ambiance du manga, je m'en étais trop éloignée en rentrant dans le monde de MK, il me fallait un retour aux sources : ) Ca vient de mes envies de neige, j'en aurai probablement pas chez moi alors j'en mets dans mes fics !**

* * *

 **Chapter 6 - Resolution**

* * *

"- Hattori ?

\- Yea, I'm awake, don' worry..." Heiji answered, rubbing his eyes as he got out of his daydream. He sat, keeping his cover tightly around him, and looked at the small child in front of him. "So ? Could get more info about Yoshida's death ?"

Several hours had passed since the boy found his friends buried under the snow. The group had walked a bit and finally met one of the teams of policemen who were looking for the two Osakans and the dark-haired doctor. Seeing he wouldn't be able to escape Yamato who wanted to drag him to the lodge, the detective of the West had asked to Conan to investigate Ryo's death without him. The boy had then escaped the group to meet the others, sneaking in another group from the law-enforcement who were heading to the crime scene.

"- First, how are you ?

\- Good, nothin' ta worry about... I'll just have ta stay away from cold a bit, time fer the few frostnips I got ta disappear." The dark-skinned smiled, not mentioning the visible bandage around his head, under which several stitches were hidden. That positive declaration was a bit tarnished as the teen went into a coughing fit.

"- And the gash on the head... And the remaining cold along with its fever..." The boy sighed at his friend's carelessness.

"- Maaa, fer someone who had a car accident with a killer an' spent the night in a blizzard, I'd say I'm pretty good !" Heiji bragged with a smirk. "So ? What about Yoshida-han ? Got killed ? Or it was an accident ?

\- Neither. It was a suicide, he jumped from a cliff and died when he hit the rocks on the ground..." Conan darkly concluded as he sat on his friend's bed.

"- A suicide ?! The guy did seem agitated after that call o' yers but he wasn' suicidal... More like angry from bein' suspected...

\- Yea, this also disturbs me a bit... And I'm sure he'd have preferred to find a way to kill Akiyama to conclude his revenge before trying to kill himself..." The bespectacled detective frowned as he took his chin in his hand. "Usually this kind of guys goes on a killing spree and, _after_ they feel their mission is complete, there's a chance of them turning their blade to themselves but clearly not before...

\- Think he did it because he felt cornered ?" The Osakan proposed with an interrogative look at the child.

"- That's what he mentioned in his suicide note, so could be a possibility.

\- He left a message an' ya don' even tell me ?!" The dark-skinned noted with a sulking face. "Start with that next time...

\- Details, details..." The small detective smirked, a bit full of himself.

"- Kudô, stop with that damn suspense, I'm none o' yer fangirls...

\- Hai hai ! I only could have a glimpse on that suicide note so I can't repeat it word for word but... Long story short, Yoshida explained in there how he found out the truth about that drug traffic... Apparently, after some drunken evening with the males of the group, some stuff they said tipped him off. So he tried to spend more time with the group, to have a chance to hear more things and that's what happened yesterday. When Ishida mentioned Russia, a country he never said he went to before, Yoshida became suspicious. Apparently, the guy usually bragged about his travels so it was strange so add to that the fact that country was the very one to which the drugs were sent... He confronted him last evening and he admitted Takeno and Akiyama had some role in that deal, though he was the self-proclaimed leader. That's when Ishida boasted about the fact he had no proof they forced Mina-san to kill herself that he lost it and killed him. And decided to kill the others...

\- An' ya said he explained why he jumped from that cliff ?

\- Yea, the end of his letter is him saying he became a killer to avenge Mina but realized that, after understanding he was cornered and he wouldn't be able to finish his task, she never would have wanted that. His suicide was for him a way to redeem himself.

\- But ya don' buy it, right ?" Heiji concluded at the boy's frown. "Or is it just that ya don' like it ? Sorry, but I didn' realize he could go ta such an extent, else I would have tried ta reason him harder...

\- Nah, that's not your fault he killed himself... I clearly don't like it but... Ok, there's no doubt about the fact he jumped from that cliff. But I don't know, something disturbs me and I can't find the words to describe it..." Conan tried to explain, without success.

"- Well, I still find it fishy that the guy switched from 'it's not me!' ta 'I'm a bad guy, I'll kill myself' but that's how it is, sometimes..." The Osakan shrugged, knowing that human nature was something really hard to understand sometimes. "So, what else did ya learn about the murders ta call me ta tell Yoshida was the killer ?

\- Ah, Akiyama told us Mina-san was Yoshida's former girlfriend and we already suspected him so I wanted to warn you...

\- He could have told that to us earlier, that dude..." The dark-skinned grumbled with a bored face.

"- Eh, he was hiding more than that... I had the police interrogate him after we found Yoshida since he mentioned in the letter he was part of the traffic. He was a bit shy at the beginning but admitted the three of them were the drug dealers. They started their little business during their internships when Ishida found a buyer in Russia. Mina-san had been tricked into it : they told her it was for some charity, so she knew it was illegal but she thought she was working for the greater good. When the police came to her door to accuse her of taking part to a wide scale drug deal, she couldn't stand it.

\- Bastards...

\- Yea...

\- What about the case ? Found anythin' else ? I heard Yamato-han confirmed the footprints we found matched some spare shoes belongin' ta Yoshida...

\- Yes, the police found them in his room in a plastic bag and confirmed it." Conan nodded, leaving his doubts and thoughts aside to focus on the case. "And I found a bloody windbreaker and some gloves in the room...

\- ... in front o' Ishida's ?" Heiji guessed, to see his friend confirmed his assumption, though with interrogative eyes. "I had time ta think about the case in that igloo... I remember there was a door just in front o' the victim's an' since all the empty rooms were unlocked, he could have hidden his stuff there. There were too many rooms fer us ta search them all, so we didn' look at the unoccupied ones...

\- And we first thought they were all closed... But, yes, that's it, Yoshida came into Ishida's room, confronted him and killed him out of rage. He then searched his belongings, careful not to make any noise, putting everything on the floor to hide what he was looking for and, since he couldn't find any proof, he probably decided to write that message to have some kind of reaction from the others...

\- That clearly worked on Takeno-han.

\- Yea. He just had to walk out of the room after hiding the windbreaker and the gloves in a plastic bag. The risk to be seen was under control, since he knew Shibe was working in his room, there was only the risk to be seen by Akiyama, which was low...

\- An' once again, a case quickly wrapped up !" The detective of the West cheerfully concluded. "So, ya already explained all this ta the police ?

\- Nah, since you were here, I preferred to wait for you to fill the gaps in their theories, I wouldn't want to have once again to randomly turn someone into a great detective..." The boy admitted as he shook his head.

"- No worries, that, I can do !" The Osakan claimed as he slammed one of his biceps with the other hand. "Hattori Heiji enters the scene !

\- Oh my..." Conan face palmed with an exaggerated sigh.

o.O.o

"- That was great, as always, Hattori-kun !" Ran concluded with a smile after he wrapped the case in front of everyone.

"- Maaa, ya should start ta believe me when I tell ya I'm even better than Kudô ! " The dark-skinned bragged with a wide smile. That smile was replaced by a painful grimace and a refrained yell, the teen now rubbing his shin under Conan's glare. "But I had an assistant, it helped, _ne_ , Conan-kun ?" He added with a forced smile at the boy.

"- I helped, I helped ! " He childishly declared with a proud face.

"- Yes, well done, Conan-kun !" Kazuha congratulated him with a smile. "We'd still be under that pile of snow without ya after all so thank ya !

\- Oh, Would it had been bad ? You seemed quite comfy, cuddling to each other..." The small detective observed, pure innocence on his face, but there was a taunting smirk in his eyes.

"- We were just...

\- Heiji was so cold due ta his fever, I had ta...

\- Oh, so you're the one who curled against him ?" The Tokyoite girl concluded with a nudge to the blushing green-eyed girl, while Conan was trying really hard not to laugh at his best friend's face, ears red with embarrassment, trying really hard not to look at his childhood friend.

"- It helped, I'm grateful fer that..." He finally admitted, still looking elsewhere. "It was just survival measures...

\- Oh really ?" Ran snorted, trying to look at him in the eyes.

"- O' course, no way I'd cuddle against..." Heiji denied, turning his head to look his accuser before realising what he was saying.

"- No way what ?" Kazuha snapped as she at last dared to look at him. " Was that that disagreeable ? I'm not good enough fer ya ?

\- That's not it, Kazuha...

\- Oh no, that's exactly what ya meant, ya Ahou ! I can't believe... Urgh, I'll be in my room, come ta fetch me when ya're ready ta leave !

\- Kazuha-chan !" Ran called as she followed the girl who stormed out of the room with anger.

"- Well done, Hattori..." Conan smirked with a low voice, his eyes on the two girls leaving. "When will you admit...

\- Admit what ?" The Osakan retorted with a flat look at the boy.

\- Never mind... " The small detective ignored his question, knowing his best friend was too proud and very probably too dense to admit any form of feeling towards the ponytailed girl. "We should go and pack too.

\- Yea... Time went fast once again... Don' forget ta call ta give news !

\- I will. Got to fill you with some info about the BO I'd like to have your opinion on..." The child stated, looking away to hide his embarrassment, as this was the best way he had found to say he was sorry about their quarrel earlier.

"- Ya know the number, I'll be glad ta help !" Heiji answered with a wide smile, understanding his best friend was trying to bury the hatchet. "Let's go !"

* * *

o.O.o

* * *

"- Thanks once again fer the trip, Ran-chan !" Kazuha waved one last time as she and Heiji stepped into the boarding area, having been called for their flight back to Osaka.

The group was back to Tokyo, Haneda airport to be more precise. They came back from Hokkaïdo with a plane and were parting, both Osakans taking another plane to their hometown, while the Tokyoites would be going back to Beika with the monorail and the subway.

"- Any time, see you soon, Kazuha-chan !" Ran smiled, also waving her hand to her friend while Conan and Heiji were exchanging one last nod before the teen turned away.

Once the two green-eyed disappeared, the long-haired girl grabbed her luggage's handle. "Let's go ?"

Kogoro and the boy nodded and also took their things, eager to at last reach home.

The bespectacled detective was quite tired, after that last case and his all-nighter, he was already planning to nap all afternoon long.

But when he saw an unusually big crowd when they headed to the train station, he started to doubt he'd be able to respect his plans. And his doubts turned into a certainty when he saw a panting Takagi-keiji in the hallways.

 _"Give me a break..."_ He sighed, rolling his eyes with boredom.

But no kami was here to hear him, that, he became sure of it when the officer almost knocked Kogoro on the floor.

The man had first an annoyed grimace but it turned into surprise as he recognized the one in front of him. "Oh, Takagi-keiji ?

\- Mouri-san ?! Sorry, I was in a hurry... " The policeman apologized, rubbing the back of his head with embarrassment.

"- That I noticed... What happened ?"

Takagi looked at him, a bit hesitant, but finally decided to speak with a low voice. "Well... A Russian tourist has been found dead in the airport... It looks like a suicide but well, since he was famous thanks to his fortune, it's a bit touchy...

\- Need any help ?" Kogoro volunteered, puffing his chest with importance, sure no one would refuse the help of such a great detective.

He deflated a bit at the officer's hesitation.

"- I'm not supposed to... I should ask Megure-keibu...

\- We'll ask him together !" The moustache man concluded as he slammed his hand through the other's back. "Of course he'll need the help of the Great Sleeping Kogoro !"

 _"Yea, of course..."_ Conan sniggered for himself with a flat look at the "Great" detective. He hid a yawn behind his hand but nevertheless followed the two men. _"And after that, a nap !"_


	7. Chapter 7 - Russians

**Hello !**

 **Happy new year ! : )**

 **And happy first birthday to me as an author on FF, since I started in 2015, on J** **anuary the first ^_^ Time went so fast... Thanks for all the readers / reviewers / followers who motivated me to keep writing all year long ; ) I hope you'll have fun with my other fics in 2016 aslo : )**

 **Ok, now,** **time for the first chapter of 2016 ! It's fun to build ta case little by little but it takes time ^^;; Be patient ; )**

 **o.O.o**

 **For your info, there's a bug with the reviewing system, I get the mails saying you reviewed but we can't see them on site... Hope it'll be fixed soon : )**

 **emmahoshi : So don't worry, I received your reviews xD thanks for being so dedicated in wanting to be sure I got your comments : ) We'll be slowly getting to the connection between those cases, don't worry ; )**

 **Purpalz Miner : UPDATED - So yep, another case ; ) And Conan will go on your lap only after this one, he's got work first ! And I bet that, even dead tired, he'd prefer to solve a case than to go to bed ^^**

 **Laury Rose : Yea, I don't think 'simple' will be the best word to describe the few cases we'll get across with that fic ; ) Haha, yup, let's keep with the usual "Heiji messing up" and "Shin being a murder magnet" xD Bonne année 2016 à toi aussi ! :D**

* * *

 **Chapter 7 - Russians**

* * *

"- Ah, sorry Kogoro-kun but I guess we won't need your help for this time..." Megure concluded after Takagi explained him how he accidentally met the detective in the hallways.

The plumb man was in a room of the hotel's airport, with two forensics and, of course, the victim.

"- So this is really a suicide?" The moustached man wondered, a bit disappointed.

"- More like an accident, since we didn't find any last will. He very probably died of a self-induced drug overdose..." The officer explained with a gesture of the hand to the victim, his sleeve rolled up to his upper-arm and some puncture wound in the crook of his elbow.

Conan discreetly approached, to see a little label, a "2", marked the place where the syringe the man had used had been found. He looked at the body, to see the man was a grey haired in his fifties, with quite a strong build, probably too large for his own health, and indeed, with a Caucasian face.

The boy looked closer at his arm, a frown on the face.

"- Alele, this is really strange !"

"- You again?!" Kogoro spurted when he noticed the child was at the body's side.

"- Conan-kun, you shouldn't be there ! " Ran scolded, grabbing the bespectacled kid before her father could hit him as usual.

"- But it's strange, Ran-neechan...

\- What is strange ?

\- His arm... When I had my vaccine earlier, I also had a bruise on my arm, like him...

\- It happens often, there's nothing strange about that, baka..." The detective retorted with a flat look at the boy.

"- But then why is the wound inside of the elbow ? Since he has the same bruise as I had, on my upper-arm..." The azure-eyed observed, pointing the middle of his biceps with his finger.

"- There's nothing there..." Megure frowned, though he came closer to have a look. "Hmm... Tôma-san, could you remove his shirt ?"

The forensic did as asked, and squinted at the man's biceps. "It's faint but... It looks like he's been grabbed by his arm... You got really good eyes, Conan-kun !

\- Hehe..." The small detective laughed with a fake childish pride, rubbing the back of his head.

"- But if he has been forced to stay still by someone, the bruise should be more intense, right ? It's barely visible..."The young officer wondered, a bit interrogative.

"- Not necessarily..." The older forensic pointed out. "If he died almost instantaneously, the bruise wouldn't have had enough time to appear, since the blood stopped circulating...

\- Alele...?"

The two officers and Kogoro turned their head almost at the same time with a kind of sigh as they heard the little detective from under the table.

"- Conan-kun, I told you not to..." Ran reminded him, though she didn't step towards him, as curious as the others to see what his sharp eyes could have noticed that they didn't.

"- But look at that... It seems that there was some coffee spilled there... It's even still wet...

\- Did you find any cup of coffee?" Megure asked to his two men.

"- No sir...

\- Ah ! It means someone removed it to hide the proofs ! His coffee has been drugged and our culprit killed him afterwards, it's a murder !" Kogoro concluded with assurance.

"- We can't ignore that possibility anymore, yes..." The plumb officer agreed, a serious expression now on his face. "Could you look for any sleeping drug in the victim's toxicological analysis ?

\- We could..." Tôma-san answered, though they could feel he was a bit embarrassed.

"- But ... ?" Takagi finally asked

"- But since he died from an OD, it might hide everything else... I think we'll have better chances if we try to analyse the carpet, if enough was spilled, we may get something.

\- Thank you. Takagi-kun, ask for the video surveillance of that hallway, we need to know who came into this room last hour. And try to bring them here if they are still around...

\- Yes, Sir !"

o.O.o

"- So, could you give me your names and relation with the victim please ?" Takagi asked with an unassured English, his notebook in the hand, ready to write everything.

The two persons who were brought here, two Russians, a male and a female, looked at each other to see who would start.

"- I'm Roman Aleïev, I was M. Terlinski's associate.

\- Natalia Popov, his personal assistant."

The young officer looked quite relieved they both answered in a comprehensible Japanese, with not too thick accents. "Do you often come to Japan ?

\- Yes, a part of our common business was here, so the three of us are able to speak your language..."

As they talked, Conan was detailing the two suspects. The woman, in her late thirties, was nevertheless looking quite gorgeous, with her grey eyes and long brown hair falling in her back and her long legs were emphasized by her short skirt. While she flinched when she saw the body, the woman didn't seem especially sad to have lost her boss.

The man was more or less looking like the victim. The same age, the same hairs, though in a shorter cut, a large build also, but in a more muscular way. His cold blue-greyish eyes had laid a second on his former associate but it had been the only visible sign of his interest for the man.

"- You've both been the last persons to see M. Terlinski alive, could you tell us what was your business with him?

\- It is an overdose, no ? So why are you asking us those questions ? " The man wondered with bored eyes. "It wasn't a secret to anyone that he was addicted to some dangerous drugs..." He added, shaking his head in reprobation and getting a nod of confirmation from the woman.

"- We've found some intriguing elements which could hint it was more like than that... So could you please answer my questions?"

Both Russians exchanged a worried look but nevertheless obeyed.

"- He asked me a cup of coffee from the airport's Starlucks since he doesn't like the instant coffee of the hotel. So I bought him one, brought it to him here and left as he asked to be alone, that's the last time I saw him..." The girl explained with a straight face.

"- And Mister ?

\- He called me to chat about a current deal we were trying to close... So we spoke a bit about it and I left, he seemed tired and wanted to rest a bit before the lunch. I think I met him not long after Natalia left since there was a fuming cup of coffee on his table. But when I left, he was alive !" The man wanted to confirm, not really eager to be charged with murder. He turned to the girl and spurted : "And I'm sure Natalia came back to the room, I saw her walking in that direction when I got out of the hotel !

\- You were indeed a second time on the video surveillance, Miss..." Megure pointed out with a scolding look, since the girl had lied to them.

"- I... When I came back, he was already dead ! " She declared with a strong voice. "I didn't want to be charged for his death so I didn't mention I came back... But I'm the one who called the police !

\- Anonymously and after quite a while... According to the cameras' recording, you stayed at least five minutes..." The young officer observed, his suspicious eyes on the woman.

"- I was in a state of shock..." Natalia said with shining eyes. "And there was that cup of coffee on the floor, I feared I could have been accused to have drugged him...

\- What happened to that cup?" The other officer frowned.

"- It was made of paper, I flushed it in the toilets... It was idiot, I understand it now...

\- None of your decisions are really helping to prove your innocence, Miss...

\- He was my boss, there was no use for me to kill him !" She tried to defend herself.

"- Stop with the lies, Natalia, I know you weren't willingly working for him..." Roman intervened with a bored look at the girl. "I know he forced you to work for him and even pressured your family for you to accept... So you killed him !

\- He was dead when I came in !" The grey-eyed woman snapped back with anger. "Stop playing innocent with me, I know you're the one who killed Yegor ! So you could get all that dirty money from your drug traffic just for yourself ! He told me he was afraid you'd kill him the day you wouldn't find any use for him anymore...

\- You little... !

\- Hey, calm down please !" Megure asked, putting his hand on Roman's shoulder to stop him as he had stepped towards the girl.

Aware that this little act of 'it's not me, it's you' could last long, Conan looked around him to try to find any additional hint. Spotting Tôma-san who was coming back, he rushed to the guy to see if he had anything.

"- Ah, Conan-kun..." The old man smiled when he saw the child in front of him. "I guess Megure-keibu is busy ?

\- Yea, he's questioning the suspects... anything new to help him?" He ingeniously asked.

"- Some little things... We couldn't find any useable fingerprints on the victim's arm but I got interesting information on the coffee that was on the carpet, think it could be enough to disturb him?" The old forensic winked to the small detective.

"- Oh, it was really drugged then?

\- Bingo ! The dose was pretty low but it was enough to put anyone in a groggy condition... But lucky we found some on the floor, we don't think we would have been to detect it in a human body... It's so fragile it can't be carried outside of a specific glass container and once you're exposed to it, it disappears in less than five minutes, though it's enough for it to knock you down...

\- Oh, really ?

\- Yea, that's a bit strange..." The man said, more for himself, his chin in his hand as he was thinking. "This drug isn't really easy to get... And, when what was left in the syringe was a pretty common drug, one you could find in any drugstore, and nowadays misused for its recreational effect, the dose is really specific... I'd say you could only find both in a hospital... Is any of them related to the medical community ? "

Conan frowned at these last bits of information. He had a good guess as to who was the killer but the police would have a few questions to ask about that drug traffic the woman mentioned...

"- Come on, Megure-keibu, it can be Natalia-san !" Kogoro suddenly spurted.

The bespectacled detective's attention got caught back to the group to see the female Russian was about to cry and his "uncle" was having a protective gesture towards her, putting himself between her and the others.

"- It is Aleïev-san, no doubt about it ! " The moustached man maintained with a firm voice. "He drugged the victim's coffee when he wasn't looking !

\- Stop with the nonsense and don't accuse someone without any proof..." Roman flatly retorted. "Who are you by the way, you don't look like an official to me...

\- I'm the great detective Mouri Kogoro !" The moustached man declared with pride in his voice.

"- Never heard of you..." The Russian concluded, not impressed at all by the other. "But if the only thing you can do is to throw baseless accusation at people, I wonder what you're doing here with the police...

\- Mouri-kun !" Megure intervened when he saw the detective was pulling an angry face. He then tried to calm him down in a lower voice. "That man is perhaps a bit arrogant but he has a point there, we haven't any proof...

\- Only a guy could have the strength to neutralize such a large victim !" Kogoro insisted with vehemence.

"- Sorry to interrupt you, Sirs..." Tôma finally dared to say. "But since the analysis proved there was some drug in the coffee cup, it would have been possible even without much force...

\- And that woman admitted herself she hid the cup..." Takagi added as he came closer to listen to them.

"- I can't believe you'd accuse a beauty like that !" The moustached detective complained with a louder voice, showing the woman with the arm.

"- Otou-san !" Ran finally intervened, embarrassed by the fact his father looked more interested by the Russian's legs than by her innocence.

 _"Let's stop that joke..."_ Conan decided, before the old man could add anything to his nonsense.

Grabbing his left wrist, he prepared his watch and shot, hitting his target just where he wanted, in the middle his neck.

"- Ale... " The detective mumbled, already half-asleep, as he spun on himself like a drunken man, in a style that no one could equal... Or perhaps no one wanted to equal.

The man ended on the floor, back against the door, and the boy rushed to him.

" - You ok, Kogoro-jiisan ?" He asked with a childish voice as he quickly stuck one of his adhesive speaker behind his collar.

"- Of course ! I just needed to sit a bit to calm down..."

The bespectacled child discreetly moved away, to hide behind an armchair.

"- Do you know who is the culprit ?!" The man's daughter wondered, recognizing his "Sleeping Kogoro" pose.

"- I was joking about the motive but I wasn't about the killer. Aleïev-san, it's you ! Just as I said, you drugged Terlinski-san's cup of coffee when you came to see him. He was so feeble when he finished his cup he couldn't even hold it anymore, resulting in that stain we found on the carpet. And that's when you grabbed his arm and injected him with enough drugs to kill him. I bet you even thought you'd be able to make it look like a self-induced overdose but, pity for you, we saw through that illusion.

\- And I'm now charging Natalia for that murder as a back-up plan ? Do you sometimes even think, Mr Moustached ?

\- Oh I do think but I wonder if you do... " The detective retorted with a kind of smirk in the voice, though of course, it didn't appear on his face. "There was one big flaw in your plan, if we discovered too early that case wasn't a suicide and questioned you before you could leave that place. The bottle.

\- The bottle ? " Megure repeated, a bit lost.

"- The drug that has been used in the coffee is quickly destroyed by the human body, which allows it not to appear on the autopsy. But it's too fragile. It needs a specific glass container to be carried. And I think Aleïev-san still has it on him. There are too many cameras everywhere in the airport and the hotel for him to get rid of it, it would have been too easy to find it and to look for fingerprints...

\- Mister... ?" Takagi asked, coming closer to the Russian, clearly waiting for the man to empty his pockets.

"- I'm a tourist, you can't force me !" The victim's former associate refused, stepping back to avoid the policeman.

"- Under the suspicion of murder, we can." The older officer explained calmly, though his eyes were severe.

They fought silently, looking at each other, like wondering which one was going to be the most stubborn but the Russian finally gave up and rambled in his pocket, to fetch a tiny glass bottle, that he put near Kogoro's feet.

"- I should never have had to resort to such methods... Yegor was a childhood friend." The Caucasian admitted with an almost sad grimace, before his expression hardened. "But to want to leave our business and even threatening to destroy it, that, I couldn't accept..."


	8. Chapter 8 - Hospital

**Hey there !**

 **Hope the end of the holidays hasn't been too harsh for you ; ) (well, that's for those who had holidays ^^;;)**

 **Today, time to enter into that last little case of the three... Our detectives start to be suspicious and they'd better be careful also... :p**

 **o.O.o**

 **emmahoshi : Oh, nah, don't worry : ) Though, you know, registering is free of charge :p I was an anon, like you, but I finally gave up... It's quite easier to follow stories (or reviews, in your case ; ) ) when you're registered... I'm not forcing you or anything, I just wanted to menton it since you seem to come often here ! ^^ Yea, I had a chonel perfume not long ago too... I prefer to distort a bit those famous names, just in case xD Oh, well, let's wrap up that last case and you may start to see how it's related... Though, like our heroes, you'll see it gradually ; )**

 **Laury Rose : Yea, murder shouldn't be solution. But there wouldn't be any detective if some people didn't think it was, so we kind of need them ? That's so strange to say... DC exists only because some people are crazy ^^;;; Nah, as I said, all those little cases are a part of a bigger one... I couldn't have them last ages : ) Next one will be a bit short also and then we'll begin to link those cases ;) Oh, thanks ! *blows her first candle* ^_^**

 **Swagnarok : Thanks : ) As to your question... Well, if you're talking about Kazuha and Heiji, some authors, me included, tend to distort the way they talk due to their strong accent in the anime / manga. This accent is often mentioned, may it be for jokes or because they are proud of it and it would be strange to make them talk normally and then to mention it out of the blue. So I prefer to distort the way they speak, even if it's a clumsy, I'm aware of it. If you were talking generally, well, sorry, being french, perhaps the way I write can sound strange to you ^^;**

* * *

 **Chapter 8 - Hospital**

* * *

Some days later, after a well-deserved rest for our teenagers, Conan was, as he promised, giving an update to Heiji, and they were talking about the latest information he gathered on the Organization.

"- Eh, an' ya were keepin' all that ta yerself ?" The Osakan sighed, astonished by the level of information the boy now had, and a bit worried as to how dangerous it had been for him to gather them.

"- Well, not exactly to myself... I shared some with the FBI had some, others with Haibara and the professor..." The small detective wanted to clarify, though he couldn't hide that slight pinch of guilt in his voice.

"- An' me none...

\- Ah, come on, I just didn't mention the undercover agents...

\- Haha, 'just'... " The dark-skinned snorted at the word. "What a mess... Add ta that the fact bodies fall around ya like bees attracted ta honey, ya're quite the busy guy, Kudô...

\- You're exaggerating, Hattori..." The azure-eyed child complained, before a grin of embarrassment crossed his face. "Though...

\- What ? Already ?!

\- Well, there was that case in the airport after we parted...

\- Haha, ya're cursed..." Heiji laughed, wholeheartedly this time. "What was it about ?

\- Some Russian businessman..."

o.O.o

"- ... an' the guy didn' want ta admit anythin' about that drug traffic ? Or ta say where those drugs he used were comin' from ?

\- Nah... I guess he knew he was already in big trouble for being charged with that murder and, since the secretary didn't know anything about it except for the fact it existed, he kept it quiet...

\- Despite how frustratin' fer us it can be, it was the best decision fer him, I guess..." The Osakan reluctantly concluded, not approving the man's position but nevertheless understanding it. "But that's fun, this sounds a bit like our last case... Drug traffic, Russian people, some kind o' weird link ta hospitals... Is that a new trend ?

\- Hmm, I was also thinking about it..." The bespectacled boy frowned, deep in his thoughts. "I'm perhaps being paranoid but could that case have been any bigger than we first thought ? With more people than those three doctors involved ?

\- Eh, even if those two cases are related, both culprits have been arrested... More or less definitely but...

\- Yea but if it is indeed something of a larger scale, they might see you or Kogoro-san as a threat...

\- Haha, Kudô, bein' detectives, we've already pissed off enough dangerous guys fer a life time !" The dark-skinned teen stated with a snort of laughter, amused by his friend worrying about something that what was so obvious to him.

"- We'll have to remember this when we'll be thinking about our retirement plans...

\- Before worryin' about retirement, first find a way ta get yer body back, _kiddo_...

\- You can be unpleasant sometimes, Hattori..." Conan flatly stated out, the dark glare on his face audible into his voice.

"- Maa, that's why people love me !

\- Ah, explains the lack of people around you...

\- That was also unpleasant, Kudô. One point each, I guess...

\- Oh, I think I have much more points than you in those little games." The boy retorted with assurance.

"- Is that a challenge ?" The dark-skinned smirked, ready whenever the bespectacled child would be to have another "who's the best detective" contest. "Kudô ?" He finally asked after there had been a silent pause on the other side of the line.

"- Sorry, Ran was calling me for diner, I have to leave." The boy explained. "I'll be watching Kogoro-san but be careful on your side !

\- Always am ! " Heiji confirmed with a wide smile.

"- Ok, let me be more precise, be as careful as a normal person can be, not your kind of twisted way of being careful that usually means you ending in the biggest mess...

\- Hey !" The Osakan spurted, taking offense at his best friend's comments. "Look at who is talkin'... Just who do ya think I am !

"- An accident-magnet ? A wound-magnet ? A body-magnet ?

\- I get ta chose one out o' the three ?

\- You're all of them, Hattori !" Conan concluded with a bored tone.

"- Haha, that was harsh o' ya..." The detective of the West observed, trying to sound wounded but unable to hide the amusement in his voice at his best friend's joke. "Ok, I'll be careful, so promise me ya'll do the same !

\- I will. Laters !

\- Laters, Kudô !"

* * *

"- Rah, feels so good ta finish early !" Heiji yawned as he stretched his body after he got up when the school bell rang, the clock on the wall indicating it was three p.m..

"- And we don't have clubs today so it's really some extra free time..." Kazuha observed as she came closer. "Want ta go home together ?" She asked, looking a bit away to be sure her childhood friend wouldn't notice the slight blush on her cheeks, being a bit too close to that "let's cuddle together in an igloo" to be able to face him yet. "We could hang around together on the way...

\- Nah, sorry, got somethin' else ta do...

\- If it's an errand, I can come...

\- Nah, thanks !" The Osakan refused a second time before grabbing his bag. "Next time, I promise !" He finished with a wave of the hand as he was starting to rush to the door, not wanting her to rant for leaving her alone.

"- Okay..." The pony-tailed girl agreed, more by reflex than because she wanted it.

Her eyes stayed a bit longer than needed on the door her friend just walked through, taken by an uneasy feeling.

"- Kazuha-chan ?"

The girl jumped, taken out of her daydream, and smiled to the classmate who called her.

She was probably just imagining things, no need to fuss about it.

o.O.o

The detective of the West stepped into the building without any hesitation, being quite familiar of the place. And indeed, soon enough, he got some nods or waves from the staff working here.

The teen answered quickly to those signs but kept walking to the reception.

"- Oh, hi, Hattori-kun ! It's been a long time, we almost thought ya forgot us !" The woman, dressed in white, complained, half scolding the boy with a little smile.

"- Haha, well, while I enjoy yer company, I still do my best ta try ta avoid ta end here... Sorry about that !" The teen answered with a shrug.

"- Maaa, that's understandable..." The woman softly giggled, as if they shared some private joke. "So, what brings ya today ? Nothing too serious I hope ?

\- Nah... I'm here ta see Kuriko-han, I called her earlier ta say I was comin'.

\- I'm callin' her, wait a sec'."

The dark-skinned detective rested his elbow on the counter and looked around him.

While walls. White uniforms. Smell of disinfectant. He had never been afraid of hospitals, being familiar with them since he was old enough to remember, but there was nevertheless that depressing aura in the place. Perhaps a kind of remnant of all those souls in pain coming here, as it wasn't a place most would come willingly to. That's also why he didn't want to bring Kazuha here, he knew she would have been nervous.

"- Heiji-kun ?

\- Ah, hello, Kuriko-han !" The boy smiled, turning to welcome the newcomer, a plumb brown haired woman, something like in the middle of her thirties.

The nurse was the one he was the most familiar and most comfortable with. She was a simple woman, the kind to say what she thinks but nevertheless kind to him and, when she had to warn his parents, forced by the law as he was a minor, she always had that gift to wrap it nicely enough for them not to worry too much or to be too mad at him.

"- So, what is it about this time ?" She smirked, wondering what her favourite patient had invented this time.

The Osakan lifted a bit his cap, revealing the white bandage under it.

"- Stitches ?

\- Yup... If ya could be nice enough ta remove them..." He asked with a smile, though it was a bit filled with embarrassment.

"- Come here ! But ya know, ya should stop hittin' yer head, ya'll probably need it in yer carrier...

\- I know... Tell this ta the bad guys !" Heiji deplored with an overacted annoyance.

"- I'd prefer ta stay away from those..." Kuriko smiled before stepping to open a door. "Follow me !"

o.O.o

Twenty minutes later, the green-eyed detective was putting back his cap, the cloth rubbing against his new skin. The nurse had been quick to remove his stitches but had insisted to check his hands, wanting to make sure the frostnips were healing properly, so it took a bit longer than expected.

"- Thanks, Kuriko-han !

\- Anytime ! See ya not soon !" She joked with a wide smile.

"- I'll try ! See ya laters girls !" Heiji waved as he stepped out of the place with a smile.

o.O.o

A while later, the teen was sitting in a restaurant in front of a plate of Takoyaki, the best of the area, a kind of treat he used to offer himself each time he left that hospital on his two feet, the place being halfway to his home.

He was enjoying the last mouthful of it when he felt someone was calling him.

"- Hey, Hei-chan !

\- Oh, Otaki-han, how are ya doin' ? " The dark-skinned answered with a warm voice, recognizing his friend from the police.

"- Better than ya it seems apparently ya were once again at the hospital this afternoon...

\- Mah, was nothin', I swear... " The Osakan denied with embarrassment, trying to minimize the whole thing. "Just a matter o' minutes...

\- Yea, that's about those minutes I'd like ta talk ta ya..." The officer said with a darker voice.

"- Hmm ?

\- There has been a murder in the hospital... Apparently, while ya were there...

\- The hell ?! Who was it ?" The green-eyed worried, being familiar with a good part of the staff.

"- A nurse, her name was Sanô Futaba. One o' our suspects is another nurse, named Madoka Kuriko, she claims ya were with her back then, could ya confirm it ?

\- Kuriko-han ? She would not be the type ta..." Heiji frowned, knowing the woman was sometimes a bit lacking of diplomacy in her words, but very probably not to the point to kill someone. "I was with her somethin' like an half hour, it was around four p.m. when we started.

\- Confirms what she said... Thanks, Hei-chan ! I'll keep ya informed.

\- Nah, I'm comin', I'm not that far away...

\- But..."

The teen hung up without waiting for Otaki to try to reason him and grabbed his bag with a focused expression. He didn't know that nurse by her name, perhaps she was new, perhaps she worked in the higher floors, but he wasn't the type to accept someone to murder someone else just under his nose, in a familiar place.

He had to solve that case.

o.O.o

"- Yo, Otaki-han !

\- So ya really came...

\- Heiji-kun !" Kuriko said with relief when she saw the dark-skinned who was waving at them from the other side of the yellow line established by the police.

With a sigh, the plumb officer let the young detective in and he soon met their group.

"- Thanks ! So, what's this about ?" The dark-skinned asked, trying to look at the room that was probably the crime scene, though without being successful as a policeman was blocking the way.

"- Sir ? " The man wondered, knowing the teen's face but not daring to move without being allowed to.

"- Let him in..." Otaki confirmed.

Heiji stepped in the second after the man moved away and his eyes started to examine the place, a stocking room for spare medical material.

"- Who could access ta that place ?" The green-eyed inquired as he stepped closer to the body, aware that such expensive materials were probably protected with some kind of lock.

"- Only the authorized staff, there's an access code... " The officer answered, his eyes on the boy who was borrowing a pair of gloves to the forensic agents to examine the body. "Meanin' only the nurses an' the doctors, altogether, that's around forty persons."

The detective of the West was quickly analysing the scene and the victim. The girl, a quite thin middle aged nurse, was lying on her stomach. Her short haircut revealed her neck, where some nasty bruises were visible, indicating she had very probably been strangled, by anything that could have been used as a rope. The line was quite regular, implying there wasn't much of a fight and that the culprit didn't hesitate. At all.

 _"Great, a psycho..."_ The dark-skinned thought, knowing how rare it was to see a line that straight, often implying the culprit was some kind of sociopath, someone without any remorse, unable to empathize with anyone.

"- An' I guess that's thanks ta that broken pocket watch ya deduced the time o' death ?

\- Yes, we think it fell durin' the fight an' the culprit walked on it accidentally when he left.

\- 4:15 p.m. then... I can indeed confirm ta ya I was with Kuriko-han back then..."

As he was finishing his sentence, Heiji's eyes laid on a little label left by the police but there wasn't anything left."What was there ?

\- A stethoscope. Accordin' ta its diameter an' the shape o' the victim's wound, it's very probably the murder weapon.

\- Any fingerprints ?

\- At least mine..." Kuriko sighed, "This is my stethoscope...

\- Ah, explains the accusation...

\- Yes. There were some others, partial ones, I don't know if we'll be able ta exploit them but, in case we could, we are currently takin' the staff fingerprints an' tryin' ta find ta who it could belong...

\- Hmm, will be long an' would only work if our criminal didn' wear gloves. An' if no one found a way ta enter this room without the code... Ok, time ta find the needle in our haystack then..." Heiji smirked as he turned his cap "on".


	9. Chapter 9 - Manipulated

**Hey there !**

 **Let's wrap this "last" case and then... Action is near, I promise ! xD**

 **o.O.o**

 **emmahoshi : This is your choice :) yep, this one is also Hattori centered so enjoy ; ) As I said at the beginning, this fic is supposed to happen somewhere after the Vermouth arc but not that long after... I wanted to keep spoilers at a minimum : ) But just like you, I also wonder what's heiji's level of information on the recent cases vs the BO. When we know for sure Heiji was implied with BO stuff until Kir's arc (boy's name is Eisuke Hondou btw :p), there's no mention of shin telling him about bourbon or Akai... And even worse, in RUM's arc, conan says himself he won't warn him... Come on, he's your best friend, tell him ! : ( Ohh looks like your prayers were heard... Let's see what happens in that chapter ^^**

 **Laury Rose : yea, I like that side of Conan who's a bit 'tsundere', the kind to hide his feeling under some dark humour : ) And Heiji always runs in his jokes so it works well xD Yup, that's a part of the plot : ) Hmm yea, just like the first case, the idea of someone who should heal being killing people is disturbing... But interesting as an author... ; )**

* * *

 **Chapter 9 - Manipulated**

* * *

"- Any idea when that stethoscope could have been stolen ta ya ?" The high school detective was asking to his nurse friend.

"- Last time I used it, it was around three p.m. I think... I had a ten-minute break at 3:30, I always leave my stuff in my locker before going out. Now that I think about it, I don't think I had it when I came back..." The woman concluded, her arms crossed on her chest as she was trying to remember her day.

"- Could I check the locker room ?

\- I'm comin' with ya." Otaki volunteered, knowing he was sure to be on the right track if he followed his boss's son.

"- Hmm ya really can' find that place by chance, it's really isolated... " The Osakan concluded as they reached the nurses' changing room.

Kuriko had a quick glimpse to make sure they wouldn't be disturbing anyone and let them in. "Yes, it has been built ta protect our intimacy and ta avoid anything to be stolen.

\- An', from what I see, it's a three numbers lock ?" The policeman asked as he came closer to one of the locker.

"- Yes. We mostly know each other's, as this place is a bit off-centred, we tend ta ask the things we could have forgotten ta the ones coming here bunring their break...

\- So probably one o' the nurses..." Heiji stated in a thoughtful voice. "Was there any conflict between Sanô-han an' one o' her colleagues ?

\- Futaba-san is... was one of the nurses' managers, she was responsible of the medicine's storage so... She could be a bit hard sometimes but she had a very strong sense of justice, if she scolded ya, it meant ya deserved it, I've never seen her being unfair.

\- But it could have annoyed some... Otaki-han, I think we have enough information ta try ta narrow down our list o' suspects... We're lookin' fer a nurse with no alibi at both half past three an' a quarter past four...

\- I'm on it."

o.O.o

Ten minutes later, the officer had gathered three female nurses who were matching the profile. A bit further, the dark-skinned teen, still with Kuriko, was looking at them.

"- Do ya know those ladies ?" He asked her with a low voice.

"- Hmm... I can't picture any of them killing Futaba-san...

\- Don' think about it, just try ta describe them ta me ? " The green-eyed proposed.

"- Ok... The one on the left is Ooyama Aina, she must be the one I know the best because we're often on the same shift. I admire her, she's a strong woman, likes sports and has a good temper, though she may lack a bit of diplomacy some times... But that's also why I don' see her killin' someone, she's really direct and would prefer confront someone instead of... That..." The nurse shrugged with a grimace, her eyes on the crime scene's door.

"- An' the others ?

\- Mizuo Hitoe is in the middle. She's kind with the patients and does very well with kids. She also a bit fragile but I think that's because, despite her young age, life has been hard on her... She had a kind of break-down six months ago but I really think she's doing better now. Probably got some help, I'm glad fer her. But, with her weak health, I can't picture her having the force ta..." Kuriko didn't finish her sentence, still chilling at the idea, but nevertheless went on. "And the last one is Itô Hideko. I know her the least, she arrived only one month ago. While she can be a bit harsh with the staff, I've never heard a patient ta complain about her. And she didn't hesitate last time ta speak up fer one of us when a doctor scolded the girl fer no reason. I think she might be the 'tsundere' type ya know, as ya younglings say nowadays..." She smiled to the Osakan as a conclusion.

"- Got that, thank ya." He smiled in return before focusing on the three girls.

The three of them had no alibi and all had access to both the weapon and the crime scene. None looked really more dangerous than the others, neither physically nor mentally, according to Kuriko's description.

"- Otaki-keiji !" One of the policemen called as he came to see the officer, his phone in the hand. "I'm sorry but the lab said no fingerprints matched the ones on the stethoscope... According to the size, those are probably some child's...

\- Crap..." The plumb man swore. "Must have belonged ta a patient then... Any other idea, Hei-chan ?"

Heiji removed his cap and ruffled his hair as he was deep in his thoughts. And then, a grin appeared on his face and he put the cap back.

"- Excuse-me, but could I shake yer hands ?" He asked as he stepped towards the three suspects.

"- Hei-chan ... ?" Otaki wondered with a raised brow.

"- I know what I'm doin', Otaki-han..." The green-eyed teen smiled maliciously. "I can guarantee ya I'll know who did it after that...

\- Any problem with that, Misses ?

\- That's so stupid..." The one named Hideko said as she shook her head.

"- Perhaps, but if it means they let us go faster, then I'll gladly do it..." Aina observed, holding her hand to the young Osakan.

"- Thanks ! " He smiled, before he shook the three nurses' hands.

He turned on himself, his back now towards the nurses, with a triumphal grin on the face.

"- Ya know who did it, right ?" The policeman asked, having noticed the detective's grimace.

"- Yea..."

Heiji turned around once more to the girls.

"- There isn' anythin' complicated in that case..." He explained, pacing around as he talked. "One o' ya, out o' anger maybe, perhaps after Sanô-han scolded her, decided ta end her life today. She stole Kuriko-han's stethoscope while she was havin' her break, hopin' she wouldn' notice. After that, our culprit just had ta wait fer her ta look after a patient, in another room, ta call Sanô-han an' ta find an excuse ta go ta that reserve ta kill her. Since this is the ER service, patients go back an' forth an' it should have been pretty hard fer Kuriko-han ta find the contact information o' the one she was treatin' at that exact moment. It would have taken a long time fer her ta confirm her alibi... But no luck fer our culprit, she was with a regular, me, someone the police knew an' could contact easily, which allowed ta clear Kuriko-han quite faster than expected...

"Once in that room, she strangled Sanô-han with the stethoscope an' just left it there : the culprit had gloves, leavin' the weapon would allow ta frame the wrong person...No use ta hide it, right, Mizuo-han ?

\- Eh ?!" She jumped, as if she was surprised he accused her. "What are you talking about... ?

\- An' ya, why did ya grimace like that when I shook yer hand ? It hurts, right ? Stranglin' someone with somethin' as hard as a stethoscope is due ta leave traces... It's too early for the bruise to appear yet but the pain is already here !

\- It's not me !

\- Then can ya explain what's that mark under yer shoes ? The soles o' the nurses' shoes are made o' a tender material so it won' make any noise... But that will also mean that, when ya stepped on the victim's watch, I bet the shape o' it somehow printed on yer sole...

\- Could I ?" One of the policemen asked, coming closer to the girl.

Hitoe looked frozen but nevertheless raised her feet to allow him to take her shoe. The man and the nurse looked at it, to see a round shape, not really specific, but it would, there was no doubt about it, match Futaba's watch.

The girl looked incredulously at the high-school detective, her face saying enough for him to know he was right.

"- Stop denyin', Mizuo-han...

\- I... I don't know anymore..." She said as she fell on her knees, her face in the hands. "I... saw she was entering in that reserve and... then my mind went blank... When I was back to myself... She was dead, at my feet... I was angry at her because she accused me of stealing medicines but I never meant to... I'm sorry..."

And that was with a puzzled frown that Heiji looked at the policemen who were helping the woman on her feet as she was apologizing again and again. The teen couldn't refrain from noticing the woman's sobs seemed honest and that she was shaking with emotion, barely able to stand.

"- Hey, well done, Hei-chan !" Otaki congratulated him with a slap across the back. "... Ya don' seem happy ?

\- Nah, I'm happy, o' course, another case quickly solved by Hattori Heiji !" The detective answered with a small smile, putting a cheerful face before his frown quickly came back.

Once again, this case seemed strange, just like the one he and Conan solved a few weeks earlier. It was hard to say what but something disturbed him.

He remembered he had thought the culprit was a psychopath or a sociopath when he saw the wounds. No hesitation. At all. And that didn't really fit Mizuo's profile. The girl was instable, fragile, she shouldn't have been able to strangle the woman until she died at her first attempt...

The green eyed was still deep in his thoughts when his eyes laid on someone familiar, piece that was fitting perfectly to the puzzle he was trying to solve.

"- Ne, Kuriko-han, what's that doctor specialty ?

\- Ah, that one is a newcomer so I'm not sure... Psychology, I'd say.

\- Thanks..."

And there was another frown on the teen's face as his brain started to bolt, fuelled by the many theories.

A fragile girl, working in a hospital, accused from stealing drugs... And that person, just here... That was too much of a coincidence.

"- Otaki-han, I forgot I had somethin' ta do, see ya laters !

\- Ok ! Thanks once again fer the help !" The policeman said, quickly waving goodbye to the boy who was already heading into the hallways.

 _"I think it was..."_ Heiji was looking around him, trying to spot the person he wanted to follow.

He had a small smirk when he recognized the silhouette who was discreetly sneaking into a treatment room, room that was probably empty since there was no light in when the door opened. Silently also, he followed it and entered the place.

"- Ya know, that murder reminded me o' that previous case... " The detective of the West started, closing the door behind him to be sure no one who disturb them.

"- Oh, Hattori Heiji, long time no see !

\- Not that long in fact..." The green-eyed smirked with assurance. "Not long enough fer me ta have forgotten yer face an' even less that case. Ya know what, that case today made me think ya could be more than a witness back then... Perhaps even that ya tricked us into believin' it was another culprit, just like ya did here...

\- I don't understand what you're talking about...

\- Maa, no need ta play dumb. Seein' how elaborate are yer murders, I know yer quite intelligent. I think what happened with Mizuo-han was almost the same thin' that happened ta Mina-han six months ago. Ya manipulated both, thanks ta yer skills in psychology, since they came ta ya ta be treated... Ya perhaps even have some skills in hypnosis, right ? I bet they didn' even know what they were doin' but they were stealin' drugs fer yer little business. Mina-han had been spotted by the police so ya encouraged her ta kill herself... Mizuo-han had probably also been spotted, though by Sanô-han only an' the nurse kept it fer herself, hopin' Mizuo-han would take the decision ta surrender herself... An' that was her mistake, because if she had told the police, yer little traffic here would have been noticed... Instead, ya manipulated Mizuo-han so she would frame Kuriko-han an' kill Sanô-han... The girl was probably still useful ta ya so ya didn' want ta get rid o' her so soon... "

Seeing the only thing the one in front of him did was to smirk, Heiji, sure to be on the right track, kept speaking.

"- An' ya know what... We think, Mouri Kogoro an' I, that that case he solved earlier, in Haneda airport, was perhaps even related ta all that..." The dark-skinned tried, remembering his discussion with Conan. "Some Russian businessmen, sellin' drugs with a hospital-specific dosage in Russia...? That sounded like that traffic Mina-han had been accused o'..."

This time, the other raised a brown, surprised at the teen's level of information.

"- The previous case, now this... Are ya tryin' ta get rid o' all yer inconvenient accomplices or what ?

\- Accomplices ? Sorry but those are just theories..." The doctor finally answered with a neutral tone. "I thought detectives loved solid facts ?

\- I bet ya know I'd just have ta stick my nose a bit here an' there in that hospital an' in that old crime scene ta prove both were fragile an' ya were treatin' them. Just a bit further an' I should find proofs on how ya manipulated both... Stop it an' surrender ta the police, it'll be easier ta everyone...

\- Not to me..." The other grinned with a face that augured no good.

A bit startled at the assurance on the culprit's face, the detective of the West started to feel something was wrong.

And indeed, suddenly, the Osakan felt a hand pressed against his mouth to force him staying silent and something sharp that pierced the base of his neck.

Very probably a needle and very probably some drug.

Unable to talk as he fell on his knees, he looked up to see his opponent was smiling.

"- Seeing your reputation and since you guessed what happened today, I knew that sooner or later, you'd reach those conclusions, Hattori Heiji, and that you'd come to me. I won't deny the fact you're intelligent, but it didn't stop you from jumping with both feet in the little trap me and my accomplice prepared for you... Time to pay for your arrogance, detective..."

 _"Crap..."_ was the last thing Heiji had the energy to think before losing consciousness under the other's wicked grimace.

For someone who promised to be extra cautious, this time, he messed up pretty badly...

* * *

 **Yea, cliffy ! ~ *runs to hide***


	10. Chapter 10 - Forest lost in the city

**Hi there !**

 **After that little cliff, time to... Ah, in fact nah, we won't solve it yet }=)**

 **So don't worry if you feel a bit lost at the beginning, you didn't miss any chapter, I'll explain later ; )**

 **o.O.o**

 **SilverQueen08 : Haha, such enthusiasm ; ) Here is your update ! ^^**

 **Emmahoshi : Yup, it's not her : ) All my friendly characters can't be psychopaths, right ? xD Hmm Hattori recognized a face he already saw during the lodge case and well, his detective brain does the connection... So yes, he now know who is culprit. Buuut... Ah well, I'll give more explanations about what happened on Sunday ; )**

 **Laury Rose : Hehe, yea, but that's Heiji, he doesn't know how not to be curious and how to be careful, we can't change him ^^ But, for his defence, that culprit did look inoffensive... Bad luck, that's all :p Aaaand that's not what's going to happen : ) As I said, see you chapter 11 for more explanation... There's Heiji in that chapter though... I like twisted things in fact... xD**

* * *

 **Chapter 10 - Forest lost in the city**

* * *

"- Heiji !" Kazuha called with a strong voice, waving her hand in front of her friend's eyes as she saw he was, once again, daydreaming, his look staring into space.

"- ... Don' yell like that, Ahou !" The Osakan snapped back, jumping out of his thoughts.

"- I wouldn't yell if ya listened ta me, Ahou ! Ya've been daydreaming half the time since last week, it's pretty annoying ya know, ta feel like I'm speaking ta myself all day long...

\- Sorry...

\- Ya sure there's nothing ? Ya can talk ta me, ya know..." She added with a softer voice, a light shadow of concern on the face, knowing that, unless he was on a case, the dark-skinned wasn't the kind to ignore her.

"- There's nothin', I already told ya that..." He confirmed with a shrug.

"- Well, at least try ta be "with us" when we'll be at the Mouri's, ya wouldn't want ta be rude...

\- Yea..."

The detective of the West looked up, to see they were already in front of the Agency. Kazuha wanted to see Ran, still a bit concerned about the girl, feeling a bit guilty, having even brought a little present with her. She organized this little visit, coming over a weekend to say 'hi' and have some news.

"- Hello, Kazuha-chan !" Ran welcomed them with a warm smile when they knocked on Kogoro's office door. "It's so freezing outside, come in quick, I wouldn't want you to catch a cold !"

"- Hello, Ran-chan !

\- Hi !"

"- Hey, we got guests in case you didn't notice !" The long-haired girl finally scolded after she let the Osakans in and saw none of the two other inhabitants of the flat even raised their head to welcome them.

Both were on one of the couches, the moustached man and the small detective bending together on the morning's newspaper with focused faces, catching Heiji's attention so he approached.

"- Ah, a Kid's heist ?

\- Yea, he sent his notice last night to the police..." The boy answered, though his eyes were still on the paper, on which there was a picture of the Thief's notice.

"- Cool, I've never participated ta one, let me see !"

"- Ok, I think we lost the three of them..." The Tokyoite girl giggled when she saw the green-eyed teen was squeezing on the couch to sit near to Conan.

"- Detectives..." Kazuha sighed with exaggeration, before sharing a bored look with her friend, who was softly laughing as she had the exact some though. "Oh, by the way, this is fer ya !" The ponytailed girl said once they finished laughing.

"- What's the occasion ?" The blue-eyed girl wondered with a surprised look as she took the bag the other was holding to her.

"- Well ya know... I just happened ta see that top ya liked that much last time ya came and... well..." The Osakan didn't finish her sentence, a bit embarrassed, knowing she wasn't really good in making up stories.

"- Oh, you remembered ! You shouldn't have, though...

\- I wanted ta...

\- Well, thank you then !" Ran concluded, guessing quite quickly at her friend's face it was her way to apologize for the accident at the ski resort, not wanting to embarrass the girl any longer by refusing her present.

"- Hmm I thought the Kid's riddles were difficult but apparently the police already solved everythin' ! " Heiji observed with a loud voice, after he finished reading the article and the notice.

"- Nah, they're probably mistaken..." Conan stated in a low voice.

"- Tsk, what kind of nonsense are you spurting once against, brat ?" Kogoro sighed with a bored look at the kid. "Their deductions seem perfectly fine to me !"

The small detective's eyes laid once against on the picture.

 _"Let's meet tomorrow night, in that forest lost in the city,_

 _You may have to look under that castle to see me at the 12_ _th_

 _But you'll easily find me earlier on the highest tower,_

 _Before I make the Millenary Diamond mine._

 _Kaitou Kid"_

The article gave more information about the Diamond. It was part of a huge contemporary sculpture, "Utopia", a kind of castle on a block of rock, made of a pure white and thin material, giving an ethereal impression to the whole work. On the highest tower of that castle rested, just for that specific exhibition, the Millenary Diamond.

The sculpture, that was more than two meters wide, was hanging from a ceiling in the Mori museum, in a room where the floor was made of mirrors, reinforcing that aura of fantasy the castle already had.

So the first line of the riddle was indeed really easy to solve. Date : tonight, since the notice had been sent the day before. Place : the Mori Museum, in Tokyo, referred as the 'forest lost in the city' in the notice, since 'Mori' meant 'forest' in Japanese, and it was really in the town, in the middle of the Roppongi district.

The last line just gave the name of the jewel but the two others... The police had assumed quickly the jewel would be stolen at midnight but...

"- "The 12th" is also a bit strange ta ya, right ?" Heiji asked the bespectacled child when he saw his frown.

"- Yea..." He agreed, deep in his thoughts, his expression really teenage Shinichi-like.

"- Oh, and why is that ?" Ran wondered as she came near, making him jump and quickly forcing a more childish expression on his face.

"- Ah, his riddles are usually difficult, ne ?" Conan pointed out with an innocent smile. "Saying the 12th means it's on midnight doesn't sound a bit too easy ?

\- Hmm true enough..." Kogoro admitted, crossing his arms against his chest as he was giving the idea a thought or two.

"- Could it be the 12th letter o' the alphabet... ? " The dark-skinned teen proposed, that trick being quite classical in riddles.

"- "L" then ?" The boy concluded, turning to his best friend with an interrogative look.

"- Ah, I know ! It's three o'clock then !" The moustached-man concluded with assurance. "I got to call Megure-keibu to tell him they are mistaken !

\- Uh..." The detective of the West tried to interrupt him, not sure of his reasoning since they were still ignoring the first half of that line and the third.

But it was too late, as the man was already on his feet, in phone in the hand.

He exchanged a shrug with his small neighbour : Kogoro would probably be invited by the police so they'd be joining the chase tonight and, who knows, maybe they'd find the right signification of those clues in the meanwhile !

o.O.o

"- Hey, is that a spider behind ya ?!" Heiji suddenly spurted with a look over Kazuha's shoulder.

"- A what?! Don't let it come close, I so hate those !" The girl shrieked as she jumped and hid her head under her hands, trying to make herself as small as possible.

"- That's not really nice of you, Hattori-kun..." Ran scolded with a little smile. "Kazuha-chan, it's not a true spider, it's just a sculpture...

\- ... Really ? " The girl asked with a tiny voice, opening an eye and turning to look behind her very slowly. "Oh what the... ?! That's ... so huge...

\- That's "Maman". Mummy, in French." Conan explained with a smile while the dark-skinned was trying really hard not to laugh at his childhood friend's scared and now disgusted grimace.

"- This has nothing ta do with a mum...

\- She is though, if you look closer, you'll see she has eggs." The Tokyoite girl explained. "Want me to show you?

\- I'm not coming any closer of that thing..." Kazuha refused with a chill, her look on the 30-feet high bronze spider. "And ya... " She said with a hard voice after a short pause, her eyes now narrowing at a laughing Heiji. "Don't think ya're going ta get away like that, Ahou !"

Her glare was so filled with threats the other Osakan finally calmed down.

"- Maaa, was just a joke..." The dark-skinned detective smiled with a shrug. "Oh, it's startin' ta snow !" He noticed, glad to be able to change the subject.

"- They said it would yea, the temperatures dropped quite early this year..." The boy concluded, blowing some hot air on his already cold hands.

"- Let's go in, then, we should be able to, it's opened until 8 p.m. ..." Ran proposed as she saw how frozen the child seemed. "And since the heist isn't before 3 a.m., they said they wouldn't close earlier.

\- So one hour left ? Still, 3 a.m. is quite late, does that Thief sleep sometimes ?" The pony-tailed girl wondered after she looked at her wristwatch.

"- Perhaps he's waitin' fer the snow ta pile up, like this we won' see him approachin' the buildin'..." The green-eyed teen joked as they stepped into the museum and they brushed the snow that was on their clothes.

"- Baka, the diamond is in the middle of the museum, it's not just about breaking a window and grabbing it." Conan pointed out with a flat voice. "He'll probably have to disguise as some policeman or someone from the staff...

\- I know that..." The detective of the West concluded with embarrassment. "It was a joke, pal, a joke..."

After twenty minutes in the museum, they finally ended in the room where the "Utopia" was displayed. They couldn't have missed it, just stepping into the place was giving chills.

There was almost no sound, except for the one from their shoes as they came closer to the sculpture. The walls were pure white, mirroring the colour of the artist's work that was hanging, with cables so thin it seemed it was more floating than hanging, in the middle of the room. Even the three guards the museum had hired to watch the stone were dressed with white uniforms and hats.

"- This is so beautiful..." Ran whispered, not daring to use a too loud voice in the place.

"- And the Millenary Diamond is really finalizing the whole work..." Kazuha observed when the soft glow of the jewel caught her attention.

"- "The highest tower... " " The bespectacled detective said with a low voice, remembering Kid's notice, coming closer to look at the sculpture.

"- "Look under the castle..." " The Osakan added before crouching to look at the floor beneath the white castle.

They were both their eyes on the floor when the girls looked at them and mimicked them by looking at their own feet, noticing the whole room's floor was made of mirrors.

"- Kazuha-chan..." The Tokyoite girl whispered with urge. "Your pants are... showing..." She finished with a barely audible voice.

The other girl blushed as she indeed saw her panties and looked at Heiji with red cheeks, to see he was looking at her with a straight face.

"- Heijiiii..." She growled menacingly with an icy-cold glare.

"- Hey, what did I do again?" He sighed, before he noticed her outfit. A mini skirt and some high thighs. Short enough for him to see... The Osakan blushed when he understood what was probably making his childhood friend angry. "Hey, I'm not lookin', I'm just followin' Kid's...

\- I can't believe... Ya Ahou !" Kazuha yelled as she slapped him. "Let's leave that damn place, Ran-chan !" She decided, grabbing her friend's arm to drag her out, leaving a startled Heiji behind here.

"- I didn' deserve that one..." He complained as he rubbed his painful cheek.

"- Clearly..." The azure-eyed boy agreed with a sympathetic look. "So, what do you think of that hint ?

\- Obviously, it has somethin' ta do with those mirrors...

\- Yea, I was also thinking that... So the 12th and the mirrors...

\- We should reflect the "L" ? Would be half past three ?

\- Half past three isn't an "L" anymore..." The small detective observed as he took his chin in his hand, thinking.

"- Or... 9 then ? 9 p.m. ?" The dark-skinned teen proposed, before stopping to exchange a look with his friend.

"- That's it ! We got to warn Kogoro-san and the police..." Conan concluded as he took his phone out.

o.O.o

"- Ya look like a horse with a tooth ache..." The Osakan was mocking his friend, one hour later, as both were still in the museum in front of the sculpture, but now with Kogoro and the police.

"- I still think we're missing something..." The azure-eyed boy frowned, his eyes on the highest tower of the sculpture. "I'd be surprised if that third sentence was just mentioning the Utopia's castle...

\- What else ? If ya want some high tower, there's the Mori Tower outside but..." Heiji proposed with an ironic smile.

"- That's it ! Look at that sculpture, there are three towers, just like this place !" The small detective spurted excitingly.

"- An' the highest one would be the Mori tower ?

\- Yea, he'll be waiting there, let's go !"

The Tokyoite was already starting to rush when he half strangled in his sweater as someone grabbed his collar.

"- Where do you think you're going, brat ?" Kogoro asked him with a flat glare. "I promised Ran I'd keep my eyes on you while she's with her friend so don't think I'll let you leave like that... You're always running in every direction when there's a heist...

\- But, Kogoro-jiisan...

\- We think the Kid might appear at the top o' the Mori tower..." The green-eyed detective added, to help his friend to escape.

"- We just want to check, it won't be long..."

The moustached man looked at both boys with bored eyes. "Ran will kill me if I let you go, it's a no.

\- Come with us if ya want... If there's nothin', we'll be back before the heist, else, ya'll be the one who caught the Kid !"

With a sigh, Kogoro finally shook his head. His eyes had sparkled at the idea he could add to his CV he caught the Kid but he wasn't really trustful of the two in front of him. "I need a smoke, will be the occasion... But we go back after five minutes up there, ok ?

\- Haaai." The two younglings chorused with - almost - innocent faces.

"- Megure-keibu, we'll be right back !" The man waved to his policeman friend.

The officer was answering with a nod while the three of them were already heading outside of the room.

Ten minutes later, Ran's father was lighting his cigarette with a visible relief at the top of the Mori Tower, one of his arms lying on the guardrail, his eyes on the city at his feet, starting to be covered by the snow.

"- Hope he won' be a pain..." Heiji sighed with a look at the man from the little platform they were on, a bit further away.

The top of the tower was made of a heliport, on the lower level, where Kogoro was smoking. On both sides, two flights of steps led to two of platforms and our detectives were standing on one.

"- I'll knock him down if he is..." Conan retorted with a small smirk that made his friend wondering if he was serious or not.

"- Haha, ya should keep that sleepin' needle o' yers fer later, ya may need it ta solve that case in his place, as always... Uh, sorry..." The dark-skinned apologized as he took his phone out and stepped a bit away to answer his incoming call.

"- What was that ? Kazuha ? " The boy asked to his friend, his eyes still on the horizon, when he heard him hang up a few seconds later. "Hattori ?" He asked a second time when he noticed he didn't get any answer.

But his friend didn't hear him as he was already down the platform and heading towards Kogoro with a determined expression.

Until the last moment, the Tokyoite thought Heiji had something to ask to the moustached detective. But that was until he sent his right fist into his face, knocking down the middle-aged man, that he understood something was happening.

And that something turned into a nightmare when he saw the dark-skinned hauled the unconscious Kogoro and threw him over the guardrail.

"- What the... Oji-san ! " Conan yelled when he saw the man fall on the other side with a horrified expression, helpless, too far away to be able to intervene.

* * *

 **For info, the sculpture and its special room exist - this is the work of a Korean artist, really beautiful and really exposed in the Mori Museum. The spider exists too, at the same place : )**

 **Oh and that's... Another cliff ? xD**


	11. Chapter 11 - Thief and Child

**Heya !**

 **So, let's go back where we were, with that cliff and, as some of you hoped, perhaps the appearance of the Kid, just on time maybe ? ; )**

 **Maa, you'll see : )**

 **o.O.o**

 **Emmahoshi : Yup, that's why I put a few warnings : ) And, yup, that's it.. Quite the evil culprit eh ? ^^ And congratz, yep, you saw what was coming this chapter, so be proud ! And still try to enjoy the chapter ; ) As to the curable / not curable... Well, some info in this chapter ; )**

 **SilverQueen08 : Yup, that's that doctor's doing ; ) Ah, of course I know Nakamori is in charge for Kid : ) But we can also see Megure on Kid's heists, remember the very first encounter Shin / Kid, with him in the helicopter with Shinichi : ) Since Kogoro is closer to Megure, of course he'd prefer to call him and stay with him during the heist. But, of course also, Nakamori is taking part in the hunt, just somewhere else, I'm just not mentioning him :p And no need to thank me for the mention : you took some of your time to review me, it's only natural to give you a proper answer : )**

 **Laury Rose : This indeed happened after our favourite Osakan got cornered ; ) Oh, thanks, I've written a lot of Kid's heist before but without having enough trust in myself (and motivation I guess^^;) to ty to write a notice so this is my very first, glad you liked it : )**

 **Anilover : Hey, welcome back :D Don't worry about not reviewing, if you're back, that's the most important : ) And thanks, happy to entertain you with that new story ^^ Ah, the title, I can say it now, is coming from the fact we're dealing with drugs, obviously, and the fact it goes to Russia and most of the story is in Winter. The drug itself as nothing specific : ) And yup, something happened to Heiji at the end of chapter 9, which explains why... maa you'll see : ) Hmm it's still not absolutely decided but I'd say there's a 60% chance our boys end in Russia for the final fight. So not sure yet : )**

* * *

 **Chapter 11 - Thief and Child**

* * *

Astonished, the boy ran as fast as his little legs allowed him without slipping on the snow to finally notice, and that helped him to breathe at last, that Kogoro was still on the roof, on a lower part on the other side of the guardrail, but he seemed unconscious.

"- What do you think you're doing, Hattori ?!" He spurted when he saw the Osakan was striding over the metal guard to apparently finish what he started.

Conan grabbed his best friend's sleeve to stop him but he couldn't do much against Heiji, not in this small body, not against such a sportsman, and the other barely noticed he was here.

"- Just stop, you Baka !" He ranted when the teen took the both of them on the other side of the guardrail, kicking his friend's shin to bring some sense back in this thick head.

The dark-skinned seemed to decide the child was starting to be too much of a hinder and lifted him in the air with both arms, to slam him against the metal fence where he landed heavily with a painful grunt.

Back on the main part of the roof, his head dizzy and the arm he fell on hurting like hell, the bespectacled detective opened an eye with difficulty to helplessly witness Heiji grabbing the knocked out man to throw him over the second guardrail, the last one before what would be a long and deadly fall to the ground.

"- ... Oji-san !" He finally yelled when he saw the detective on the West was the only one remaining on the top of the building.

Unable to believe his eyes, hoping this was just a nightmare, the boy got up, holding his wounded arm against him, and stepped towards the edge of the roof to see...

A white wing quickly passing in front of him, a white wing he didn't expect but had never been so happy to see, as it belonged to the one who was holding his uncle-substitute in his arms, the Kaitou Kid.

The small detective was starting to rush to a platform, the one the Thief was heading to, to check on the moustached man, but he was ruthlessly pushed away by the Osakan who also noticed the former policeman had been saved and that didn't seem to his taste.

The criminal in white had left the old man at the top of the platform and was now going down the stairs, a taunting smile on the face, to say hello to the two detectives.

"- What happened ? Was the Sleeping Kogoro so drunk he fell from the roof ?" He wondered with a small laugh, when he saw there were only the two teens with him at the top of the building. "... Tantei-ha... Wow !"

The Kid had barely enough reflexes to avoid the arm thrown at his face and it was with a hurt and startled face he turned to his aggressor. "Hey, a 'good evening' would have done the job... !" He complained, before frowning at the green eyed teen.

He was expecting that kind of satisfied smirk the detective could have when he was proud of himself but his face was cold and his eyes blank.

"- Hemm... Tantei-kun ? It's just me or Tantei-han seems a bit stranger than usual tonight ?" The Thief asked, turning to look at the azure-eyed child after he avoided another hit since he was still between Heiji and Mouri.

"- I don't know what's into him, just stop him from getting close to Kogoro-san, he's the one who threw him over the building's roof, it looks like he wants to kill him ! Careful !" Conan swore as he saw his best friend was preparing another attack.

The white clothed avoided once again the hit but barely, and that left him totally open to the next once coming. Seeing the Thief was in danger, ignoring his painful arm, the small detective quickly kicked one of his soccer balls towards the dark-skinned, who escaped it but it stopped him a second.

"- Thanks... Did he hit his head or something ...? Hey ! Over here you brainless brute ! " The Kaitou Kid yelled to have the Osakan's attention on him after he jumped a few steps away.

"- No... He got that call and then..." The boy took his chin into his hand and bowed his head, lost in his thoughts.

"- Tantei-kun ?" The other asked as he avoided a nasty punch with difficulty, the green-eyed teen being surprisingly pretty fast despite his zombie-like attitude.

"- It may have been a... trigger ?! Kid, I don't know how but Hattori may have been programmed by someone...

\- Uhhh nothing we could solve fast then..." The Thief deplored with a frown, his eyes still on his aggressive opponent. "I could knock him down with sleeping gas but if that mind-control has been drugged induced, it could turn nasty...

\- Yea, can't use my tranquilizer watch either...

\- Ok, I'm going to bring him closer to you, Tantei-kun, just send him one of your deadly balls...

\- I had only one but I just needed to use it to avoid you to end in the hospital with a fractured jaw..." The boy reminded the Kid with a flat voice.

"- Then use this !"

Conan caught what was sent towards him as he could with one arm, a bored look on the face when he recognized the item.

"- A spray paint can ? I'll kill him if I hit him in the head with that...

\- That's the only thing I have that won't explode, just don't aim for the head, that's all ! And I'd be happy if you could also avoid me...

\- I'll do my best... "

But indeed, that wasn't as easy as it seemed, with the teens being so close to each other in their fight. After a few minutes, the dark-skinned finally was able to graze the Kid's cheek, destabilizing him and forcing him to grab the fence not to fall.

Seeing his chance, the small detective kicked his can with force. " Get down, Kid !"

The teen in white dove to the ground as the projectile flew over his head at high speed, hitting Heiji in the chest and covering his parka with a bright red paint as the can opened violently at the impact. In his fall, he slid on the snow and his head banged against the guardrail, neutralizing him for good.

"- The heck..." Conan sighed as he fell on his bottom, tired by such a stressful situation.

"- You two do know how to have fun..." The Thief pointed out with a taunting smile as he got up, panting. "You better bring him to a pro, there's nothing you or I can do if he has been programmed, only a specialist can help him...

\- I know...

\- And you'd better tie him down, he may look normal but any word set as a trigger will send him back to that berserk state...

\- I know that too..." The boy said as he passed his hand across his face with another sigh before turning to the Kaitou Kid. "You're pretty knowledgeable for a thief...

\- A magician thief. Manipulating people can be part of a magic show... But creating a blood-lust monster like this has nothing entertaining..." The thief in white observed with hard eyes at the unconscious Osakan. "Tell your moustached uncle I disguised as your friend to knock him down, you wouldn't want him to have an aggression on his curriculum vitae...

\- Such nobility of heart... What about _your_ CV ?" The bespectacled detective smirked with a look at the Thief.

"- Maa, they all know I'm a bit of a prankster..." The other smiled maliciously. "You'll owe me one, though ! And that dark-skinned guy on the floor too, please tell him.

\- Hai hai..." Conan admitted with a bored look. "Consider me not knocking you down right now as a part of it, thief. I'll let you steal that jewel today, this is nice enough for now.

\- Oooh, because you really think you'd have been able to stop me ?" The Kid chuckled maliciously, a provocative expression on the face.

"- Wouldn't have been the first time..." The child smirked back before going back to a darker tone. "Shoo, now, I'll deal with those two !

\- ... Ok." The magician nodded, after he met the small detective's eyes, to find them filled with confidence. Yea, he probably knew what he was doing, he didn't seem to need his help any further. He grabbed his hat and saluted the boy. "Tantei-kun.

\- Kid."

The bespectacled kid looked at the Thief as he jumped over the roof and deployed his glider, soon invisible, white wing in the middle of the white snow.

He finally noticed he was starting to freeze on his feet, in the cold of this snowy night, in the wind blowing at the top of the tower, and that would mean Kogoro and Heiji needed to be brought back inside quickly if he didn't want them to get cold.

Conan got up, once again with a grimace as he forgot he hurt his arm, and came closer to his best friend, a veil of sadness in the eyes as he looked at him.

 _"Who the hell did this..."_ He wondered with a frown as he bent to search the teen's pockets for his phone. " _Private call, no wonder..."_

He had to try but, of course, the one who called Heiji and triggered those events had been calling anonymously.

This plan was so elaborated. The culprit's goal had clearly been to kill Kogoro and possibly frame the detective of the West for the murder... His friend probably wasn't aware at all of what happened and of him being programmed. He had been perfectly normal before the call, his actions and decisions made sense for the current case and he didn't try to be alone or almost alone with Kogoro.

The azure-eyed boy was also disturbed by the timing of this call. This was so perfect... Ten minutes beforehand, the three of them were with a bunch of policemen : this attempt would have been stopped so easily if it happened in the sculpture room. But nah, the attack came only after, when they were alone on that roof, as if he or they knew...

And how come no one noticed Hattori had been missing ? Programming someone wasn't something you could do in a few minutes, so why did no one wondered where he was all that time ?

And the last question was... That question Conan dreaded to find an answer to...

Who.

If the goal had indeed been to frame Heiji and kill Kogoro, then it was someone who had something against both. Someone who was aware of the fact they knew each other and were going to spend some time together sooner or later. Seeing how far away of each other they lived, there were only two answers. Either a culprit they had arrested during the few cases they 'solved together' when Conan impersonated the man, or one of his relatives. Or...

And that was the answer the small detective didn't like at all.

The Organization was aware of the fact that the Sleeping Kogoro, the Detective of the West and the Detective of the East all knew each other, after that party on a boat, when the dark-skinned had been disguising as Kudô Shinichi and solved the case. He had been regretting since, to have asked to his best friend for help : he didn't have any choice but this had been bringing the green-eyed teen's existence under the BO's spotlight... If what happened tonight had any connection with the B.O., it would be because of that party...

The boy stopped looking at the Osakan and facepalmed, depressed by his reasoning, before turning to the platform where his uncle-substitute had been lying when he heard him groan. He was waking up, he had to act quickly.

 _"No choice... And who knows, perhaps they'd be able to help, mind control should be something they're familiar about..."_

With a last sigh, he grabbed his phone and dialled a number. "Jodie-sensei ...?"

After that call, Conan walked towards his uncle who was now going down the stairs, gently massaging his jaw with his hand.

"- You ok, Kogoro-jiisan ?

\- I am but what the heck happened in that Osakan brat's head ?!" The moustached man grumbled with hard eyes at the teen on the ground. "Ehhh ?! Is he... Is he ?"

The boy gave a startled look at his uncle, not getting why he was panicking after seeing the green-eyed. And then he realized that the teen's parka was recovered by a red that really stand out with the white snow around them.

"- Ahhh, it's some paint, don't worry, Heiji-niichan is just unconscious. And it wasn't him who hit you, it was the Kaitou Kid, he disguised as him...

\- That damn thief ?!

\- Yea, and Heiji-niichan tried to fight him but, with the snow, he slid and hit his head against the guardrail when that Thief sprayed him with that paint, I called an ambulance just in case..." The Tokyoite child explained, trying to sound as convincing as possible in his lies.

"- Ah, that's for Nakamori-keibu and his _"Kid is a non-violent criminal"_..." Kogoro concluded with a snort.

"- You should go and warn him, it's ten to nine, you may be able to help them to catch him ! He's perhaps still with Heiji-niichan's face !

\- I have indeed a revenge to take... But what about Hattori-kun ?

\- I'll stay with him until the ambulance arrives, I'll explain to them what happened.

\- Hmmm..." The sleeping detective didn't seem really fond of the idea as he looked at the dark-skinned who was starting to be buried under the snow. "I'll bring him inside at least, he'll catch a cold if he stays like this...

\- Good idea ! And maybe you should warn Ran-neechan and Kazuha-neechan when you'll see them that we are safe, they may worry, else." The boy advised, thinking it was a better idea for him to tell them and, above all, later, instead of him having to answer to their questions and probably having Kazuha asking to come to the hospital. He really didn't need any witness if this was the B.O. ... And his best friend would kill him if he heard he involved the pony-tailed girl.

"- I'll do that... Ok, let's go !" Kogoro ordered as he bent to grab Heiji's arm.


	12. Chapter 12 - O-mamori

**Hi !**

 **Already time for another chapter : ) Let's try to have a glimpse at what happened to Heiji at the end of chapter 9... :p**

 **o.O.o**

 **Laury Rose : Of course, this was a Kid's heist, he had to save the day ; ) Yea, I like to picture them like this, half old friends, half enemies, with a taunting Kid and a bored Conan ˆˆ Hmm I think Conan tends to be pretty paranoid about the BO and tends to see it everywhere, that's why I wanted him to think about that possibility. You'll have those info in due time : ) The only thing I can tell you yet is that Heiji didn't speak about that hospital case to Conan.**

 **emmahoshi : Glad for you xD. Yup, we'll be a bit talking about what happened after he got cornered in this chapter but you won't have all the answers yet ; ) Yea, it had to be Heiji for what I wanted to do, see there's some logical in me hurting him sometimes ˆˆ As to your others questions... "Why Mouri" will come later : ) The hypnosis on Heiji is because the culprit has something against him of course : ) BO or not... Later also ˆˆ Hehe, I'm happy you're still a bit startled, would be a pity else ˆˆ Hmm I'm still wondering if Kid will come back... I'd like to settle that 'debt' thing but I need to see if it's useful or not to that story... So I don't know yet : ) I'd like too, let's say :p**

 **mystery0028 : Haha, if Megure can be on a heist because Shinichi asked him to hang around in a helicopter with him, let me have him in mine under the excuse that Kogoro gave him a hint xD And they didn't just "stumble" in there, I looked at it again, Nakamori's agent says, when the inspector wonders what that helicopter is, that it has been sent as a backup by the headquarters. Though I bet it's just Shinich convincing Megure to bring him there ˆˆ;;**

 **Anilover : Thanks ; ) Yea, Jodie can be helpful sometimes, right? ˆˆ Hmm while I'm not sure yet if the Kid will reappear, I'm sure Hakuba won't be here, sorry, this is DC centered as warned at the beginning so I won't have him in the story. Yea, I know it's high xD Dear, I got to find some time to write and decide what's next ˆˆ;; Maa, we kind of see that big boss' shadow, it's just that we don't know yet his/her level of implication ; )**

 **James Birdsong : Thanks you ! : )**

* * *

 **Chapter 12 : O-mamori**

* * *

Heiji opened his eyes with difficulty and frown as he felt a spike of pain behind his head, as if something had hit him hard on the skull, but he couldn't remember what happened. That's when he tried to touch his bump with the hand that he started to feel uneasy. Because he was tied to the bed he was lying on. And being tied after a hit on the head usually meant one thing : he was in big trouble.

Hearing some footsteps behind the door, he tried to trash as hard as he could to free himself, ignoring the sharp pain it provoked in his chest, but nah, the restraints were too tight and too robust, the Osakan couldn't move an inch, sweat dropping as the handle was being turned and the door opened.

The dark-skinned tensed at the sight of the newcomer, someone in a white blouse or... a child ? How could he see both ? He blinked one moment and the image stabilized at least, bringing him back to reality, to a Conan who was smiling at him.

"- Hey !

\- ... Hey... ?! ... There's no 'hey', ya've also been kidnapped, Kudô ?! Free me, we need ta go out o' here !

\- Kidnapped ? " The boy frowned when he looked at his best friend. And then understood that waking up tied into a bed with a commotion could lead to some confusion. "Ah, nah, we're at the hospital. So no need to worry.

\- The hospital ? How did I end up here... once again." The green eyed sighed as he looked around him, seeing more beds with medical material, empty though.

"- What's your last memory ?

\- Hmm... We were headin' ta that tower before the heist with Occhan an' then... Ah, he was havin' a smoke while we were on that platform on the roof...

\- That's all ?" The small detective asked and the answer to his question was a nod. "That was two hours ago.

\- Ehh ? What happened ?! Did that damn Thief knock me down ?

\- In fact, I did..."

Heiji stared at his friend with such disbelief the other rubbed the back of his head with embarrassment.

"- Well, you weren't yourself so I had to...

\- Weren' myself ?

\- Unless you tell me that throwing people over a 54-story building is your new hobby, I'd say that, no, you weren't yourself."

The Osakan paled several shades at the information, knowing at his friend's now serious face that he wasn't joking. "Just... Who... An'... ?

\- Kogoro-san. But don't worry, he's good." Conan smiled at the teen's panicked face. "He'll have a nice bruise on the jaw but that's all. And, since he was unconscious, he doesn't even know he has been pushed over the roof. Ah and he doesn't know it was you, we decided with the Kid we'd frame him for that.

\- ... Ok..." The green-eyed dully answered, still a bit lost. He'd have to ask for a more detailed version of this story later but his main problem now was to know... "What the heck happened ? How can I try ta kill Occhan an' don' remember it...

\- You've probably been programmed." The azure-eyed sighed as he finally sat on a chair near his friend's bed.

"- What ?! Like in those spy movies ? Do this, do that ?

\- Yup. Someone called you when we were on that roof and you started to act strangely after that... So I think a voice or a word or a group of words is the trigger...

\- An' that's why I'm tied ta that bed...

\- Yea, if it's a word and anyone says it by accident, you could go back to that berserk state...

\- Got it..." Heiji confirmed before noticing his friend was a bit stiff on his chair. "Are ya hurt ? Did I... ?" His eyes widened as he understood his manipulated self had been able to rise his hand on his best friend.

"- I'm good, nothing's broken, I had a medic check that." The child stated with a comforting smile and a sign of his chin to his arm. "Just some bruises. I guess the Kid has some too. And since I bruised some of your ribs and almost cracked your head open, I guess we're even !" He finally chuckled to try to lighten the now heavy atmosphere.

"- Sorry...

\- No "sorry"s, it's not your fault, Hattori. It's probably mine though..." Conan wanted to point out at his friend's depressed face. But the teen seemed lost in his thoughts. "You're trying to remember when you could have been programmed ?

\- Yea, but I can'..." The dark-skinned was interrupted when a sharp pain went through his head, forcing him to stop to try to remember anything, leaving his mind blank.

"- Hey, you ok ?" The azure-eyed boy inquired as he saw his grimace."Don't force yourself if you can't. I explained the problem to Jodie-sensei, she will come back with one of her specialists so we can get rid of that mind control of yours..."

The Osakan frowned at the mention of the woman's name.

"- The FBI ? Why... ? ... Ya think it could be the Black Organization ? But this attack was directed at Occhan, not ya, so it can' mean they discovered ya were... ya know, a tiny version o' yerself...

\- I don't know why they would target Kogoro-san and indeed, this doesn't seem to be related to them hunting me but this plan is so elaborate, we can't ignore that possibility... They have so many scientists capable in a lot of disciplines... Sorry I involved you in all this, Hattori." The bespectacled detective deplored as he bowed his head.

"- Don' be. Never be, Kudô. Even if it's Them, an' that's not sure at all, those guys are murderers an' must be stopped, at any cost, that's not only yer fight. I said I'd help, I won' change my mind."

Both teens looked at each other and Conan finally gave up with a nod.

"- Good !" Heiji concluded with one of his warm smile. "An' now, will ya explain ta me how ya ended up teamin' with the Kid, Kid-killer ?"

o.O.o

Jumping awake, the dark-skinned opened his eyelids to look arounf him and saw once again that shape in white, the one he thought he saw when his best friend entered his room earlier. Perhaps there were even two ? Maybe, he didn't know.

And there was that voice. That soft voice he couldn't resist too.

Male ? Female ? He was unable to tell right now, everything sounded blurred.

Everything was blurred in fact. His sight, his thoughts. Had he been drugged ?

The green-eyed felt kind of detached about it though, as if he didn't mind what was happening to him. However, when those flashes of blue light started again, he couldn't stop his throat to let a groan of pain out. He was back to his body, back to this white room, back to those electrical discharges that painfully went through him, from toes to hairs, forcing him to trash in his bed.

"- ... tori ! Heiji !"

Panting and in pain, the detective of the West woke up once again but to find out he was back in his hospital room, with Conan bending above him with a concerned face.

"- Welcome back." He smiled, before turning to give a hard look to the man sitting near his best friend, the FBI agent who had been called by Jodie. "Didn't you say he wouldn't feel anything ?

\- In some rare cases, when the suggestion is really deep, the patient is unable to stay detached enough not to feel the extreme sensations that he could have felt back then, I'm sorry, Hattori-kun." The FBI specialist, Jake as the blond-haired girl called him, deplored with a frown before giving their problem a little though. "I think we should focus on finding the trigger. The one who did this has locked your memory with high level techniques, I won't be able to get rid of those in one night.

\- But ya'll be able ta get rid o' the "I get berserk, attack everyone an' forget everythin' after" thingie tonight ?" The Osakan asked with a tired but hopeful voice.

"- Yes, I think so. We just have to find when it happened in your memories, so we can look for the word or the sequence that has been used.

\- But first, I think we all need a break." The small detective advised with a side glance at his friend, seeing how hard it was on him to go through that high-speed kind of mind 'defusing'.

"- Agree. " The man stated, exchanging a nod with Heiji as he got up, having also noticed his tired face. "I'll be with Jodie-san, tell me when you feel ready to go on."

"- You good ?" Conan asked to the dark-skinned after the agent left.

"- Yea, yea... it's just... How long have I been with them ? Jake-han said that, even with the proper material, an expert would need at least somethin' like five or six hours... How come no one noticed I was missin' ? If all this really happened, I'd have been so weak an' so filled with drugs I wouldn' have been able ta put one foot in front o' the other..." The Osakan wondered as he settled back into his bed and looked at the ceiling.

The boy's anger was visible as he clenched his fists. The FBI agent arrived one hour earlier, around one a.m., and they had been working since on trying to find out what happened through the detective of the West's brain.

And he really didn't like what they were finding. His friend has been held captive, tied to a bed and drugged. And, to accelerate the programming, electroshocks had probably been used, those blue lights he was describing. This had been quick and cruel but apparently pretty efficient and didn't leave any marks behind, else Heiji himself would have noticed.

Conan jumped out of his internal ranting where he felt a phone vibrate in his pocket. Getting it out, he noticed it wasn't his phone but his friend's that he had kept it with him, and that the caller was...

"- Kazuha I bet ?" The other teen guessed when he saw it was his phone the boy had in his hand. The child nodded, an unsaid question on his face. "Put it on speaker. I'd just prefer ya ta hold it, ta hang up if anythin' happens.

\- Ok..."

The Osakan took a deep breath and finally bowed his head to signify he was ready.

"- Kazuha ?

\- Heiji ?! Ya ok?! Kami, I've been so worried...

\- Didn' Occhan tell ya there was nothin' ta worry about ?" The green-eyed frowned at his childhood friend's worried voice.

"- He just said last time he saw ya ya were unconscious and an ambulance was on the way... Where are ya ? In which hospital ? I'm comin' !

\- Kazuha, I just got some bump on the head an' the visitin' hours are long over, no need ta rush. They want ta keep me fer the night though, but I'll come back ta the Mouri's office tomorrow, ok ?

\- But...

\- Hey, I won' have ya come ta the hospital in the middle o' the night because I slipped on some snow, ahou..." The teen detective said with a voice he tried to put some comfort in. "An' I don' want ta bother the Mouri with that...

\- Ya're the ahou..." The girl answered with a weak voice but Heiji could feel she'd probably be reasonable, probably thanks to that last argument.

"- Hai, hai. An' now the ahou needs some sleep an' I bet ya too, so see ya tomorrow, ok ?

\- Yea... Good night, Heiji.

\- Good night, Kazuha. An' please tell Nee-chan Conan is with me, he's alright, he was keepin' me company so the nurses settled him in my room. He's sleepin' right now, better not ta disturb him.

\- Ok..."

"- Hope we'll really be able ta solve this by tomorrow, else we won' be able ta keep Kazuha away from the hospital..." The Osakan sighed after the azure-eyed child hung up the phone at his nod.

"- Well, at least, she seemed to have bought your story for now, so we're good for the night.

\- Yea. But it's late already... Could ya fetch that guy once again ?"

The child looked at his friend with a serious face, to be sure he was ready and not just asking this out of bravado. But, since the only thing he could see on the other's face was determination, he got up.

"- Ok."

The dark-skinned looked once again at the ceiling once the other left. Of course Kazuha would be worried. But he couldn't have her being brought here, not if the BO was the mastermind behind all this. And he didn't want to hurt her by accident, he felt guilty enough about Conan's arm...

And the girl should have more faith in her own o-mamori, right ? After all, he wasn't really wounded so it kind of worked ? ... Or things turned worse because of it.

He chuckled at the idea, still not really sure if that little pouch was a protection or a problem-magnet. But there was something else about that o-mamori, he felt it... The detective closed his eyes as he tried to remember and then suddenly...

He had a chill when the one in white opened his shirt and stuck icy-cold electrodes on his chest. Heiji was trying not to panic, to keep his mind clear despite whatever he had been injected with in the neck. His eyes laid on his o-mamori and a soft expression appeared on his face as he thought about the one who made it. Feeling his breath was calming down and seeing how the teen was looking at the item, the other had a smirk.

"- Is that thing precious to you ?" The medic asked before smiling when the dark-skinned looked away. "Clearly...

\- Don' ... !" The Osakan spurted as hands were grabbing the pendant around his neck. "Give it back, ya damn...

\- I'll give it back to you, don't worry..."

"- Hattori ?" Conan asked as he opened the door and saw his friend's look was a bit lost.

Heiji jumped out of his daydream and stared at the small detective. "Kudô, where's where's my o-mamori ?! " He asked with urge.

"- In the drawer, just here, don't worry, they didn't lose it ..." The bespectacled child answered calmly, a bit surprised by his friend's concerned face.

He stepped into the room and fetched the item in the table near Heiji's bed, before showing it to him with a smile.

But if he hoped to sooth him, he was greatly mistaken, as the dark-skinned paled when he saw how close the o-mamori was from them. "Open it !

\- What's the... " The azure-eyed kid wondered, not understanding all this rush.

"- Now !"

The concern on the Osakan's face was real and Conan soon mirrored his expression as he opened the little pouch and emptied it in his palm. He wasn't a specialist in miniature technologies but... He had left enough of those tiny mikes the Professor made behind him to know what they looked like.

And he was holding one in his hand.


	13. Chapter 13 - Playing guessing

**Heya !**

 **After this hellish week for me, I'm proud to present you the next chapter ! : )**

 **And sorry if there were some mistakes in the last one, I did my best but I was abroad without my computer so it was a bit hard to update correctly ^^; (was fun to see in my profile I was from Czech Republic a little while xD)**

 **Sooo, time to know how much things are messed up after they found that mike ! ; )**

 **o.O.o**

 **emmahoshi : Haha, sorry, I tend to update pretty late, I know, I'm more of a night owl ^^; So this will be a Monday chapter probably for you... Ah, glad you liked that chapter xD So yea, Kudô is busted, question is by who : ) And yes, the culprit, as he/she noticed Heiji was really fond of his o-mamori, bugged it, knowing Heiji would probably keep it with him all the time. And yes, now that I'm working on how I'd like the last parts of this fic to happen, Kid's reappearance will be more in the epilogue, but he will appear again : ) Oh, don't worry for the mistakes, I know I can make a lot when Im tired so you'll never have a comment from me about that ^^;;; Ah, and about Jake, his work wasn't over yet : ) He'll help Heiji against the mind-control, you'll see it in this chapter. As I see it, he's unable to help Heiji to access to his memories but, since he's a specialist and he knows what Heiji was programmed to, it's possible for him to do something about the "kill kogoro" part.**

 **SilverQueen08 : Nooo, don't let your characters hunt my bad guy, I need him for this fic a little while longer ! xD Ah, what I love in that ep' is Kaito's face when the guards find him in the air vent. His "What the hell, since when Nakamori is so intelligent" is so fun... he had never been used to have a correct rival except for Hakuba so it's hard for him to accept this change ^^ And yes, that flashback is part of what happens after Heiji got caught at the hospital. We're slowly going to an explanation as to what happened back then : )**

 **Laury Rose : That's why he knows all the staff in Osaka ! xD Maa this time, he was at the hospital but it was more for the others' safety than because he was hurt ^^;; Yep, that's it, and that's why our culprit let him go : ) Yea... They are apparently many ways to brainwash someone, most based on weakening the mind and the body but since I wanted it to be done fast... I took the inspiration in the old psychology's techniques : some diseases were "healed" with electroshocks, it can alter the brain in some way. And yes, they could hear everything. EVERYHING ! It's pretty much funnier like that : )**

 **Anilover : Yup, we're starting to see a bit what happened : ) A plot twist ? about what ? :3 If it's about Kid, yea, he'll be back, though it'll be a small scene, sorry ^^; Oh, nice timing, Big Boss is in this chapter ! ; )**

 **Purpalz Miner : Haha, yea, our culprit has a stalker side it seems... ; )**

* * *

 **Chapter 13 : Playing guessing**

* * *

"- Miniature mike and GPS chip..." Jodie sighed as she came back after she examined a little while the item Conan had given to her. "That's some nice manufacturing but nowadays, you can find those on the internet...

\- Think we could find where the signal is coming from ? " The boy asked with hope.

"- I had some material in my car but I didn't get anything. I guess your culprit broke the signal once he heard you noticed he was observing you...

\- Crap...

\- Don't frown like this or you'll end up with wrinkles before your thirties, Cool Kid..." The FBI agent chuckled at the small detective worried face. "What happened ? You mentioned your secret girlfriend ?

\- If only... " Conan sighed, still trying to remember what he could have said when Hattori was with him.

 _"Whoever listened has heard too many information for my own good..."_ He deplored in his thoughts.

Clearly, the name 'Kudô' had been enounced more than once... But he couldn't resent his friend for that, how could he have imagined what happened... They also spoke about the Organization and even about their hunt after him... And wasn't there that joke from the Osakan about him solving cases instead of Kogoro-san ?

The bespectacled child facepalmed at the idea of the Organization having those intels, he'd have them knocking on the Mouri's door tomorrow... And even if it was someone else, there was enough blackmail material in there.

Jodie looked down at him and saw how depressed he looked.

"- If it can be of any consolation, I don't think this was the Organization's doing. They also use miniaturized spy items but it's usually homemade so They can be sure it's not traceable. They have a very specific pattern. This one is, as I told-you, mass-produced and accessible to each and everyone.

\- So probably not Them..." The boy concluded, to see the woman was nodding to him. "Could you still have one or two agents around the agency during the next few days ? Something discreet, just in case, time to find out what really happened...

\- No problem.

\- Thanks. You'll find me in Hattori's room if anything new."

The azure-eyed detective left and was still in his thoughts, displaying a gloomy face, when he reached his best friend's door. He was clearly not the only one to be in trouble right now, so no use to dwell about it, better focus on the information he could gather.

Shaking his head to bring back a lighter expression on it, he turned the handle.

"- Hey, K... Conan-kun !" Heiji smiled when he saw who was at the door. "Jake-han got rid o' it !

\- Oh, back to your Baka self already ?" The little one smirked as he came near the bed and noticed the restraints had been removed.

"- Well, everything isn't back to normal, some memories are still missing but at least we got rid of that trigger that aimed Mouri-san..." Jake temporized with an indulgent smile.

"- Do I have any chance ta have them back ?

\- ... I think so, you've already started to have some flash-backs so they should be more and more numerous now that your brain understood something was missing. It'll try to find it back by itself." The FBI agent confirmed after a short pause.

"- So I'll eventually know who did that an' how...

\- That's it !" The man concluded as he got up. "Here is my number, don't hesitate to call if anything disturbs you, mind control can be tricky sometimes...

\- Thanks !" The Osakan warmly said as he took the piece of paper.

"- Any time !"

"- Soooo..." The small detective started with a grin when the agent closed the door behind him. "No more bloodthirsty Hattori-zombie ?

\- Nope ! An' that's a relief, attackin' people without noticin' is..." The dark-skinned sighed as he bowed his head.

"- I also won't say I'll miss it..." The boy admitted as he rubbed his wounded arm. "Did that FBI agent identify the kind of trigger it was ?

\- Yea, both a word an' a voice.

\- So our culprit called you directly..." Conan observed as he took his chin in the hand.

"- Yes... Let's hope my brain remembers quick enough who it was !" The teen wished, putting a finger against his head. "An' ya, got anythin' out o' that mike ? It explains why that attack's timin' was so perfect but it's not good news...

\- Nah, the signal was down, our spy probably heard us...

\- Pity..." Heiji deplored before looking into the azure-eyed child. "I wouldn' want the conversations we recently shared ta fall in all ears...

\- Me neither... Jodie-sensei thinks, according to the miniaturized mike technology, that this is probably not the BO. I asked her to have one or two agents around Ran and her father though.

\- Good idea..."

Both teens stayed silent a little while, far from being relaxed, with all the questions and the problems raising from this incident.

"- Ah, by the way, I think I know when it happened..." The Osakan finally stated.

"- _It_ ? The programming ?

\- Yea... I've been sick as a dog, one night one week ago... I don' remember much but my parents scolded me the day after fer comin' back late without any warnin' an' fer spoilin' the dinner they left fer me as I didn' eat it.

\- Not eating ?! This is clearly suspicious..." Conan snorted, knowing how much his best friend had to wolf down to function normally. "Sorry, was too tempting..." He smiled when he saw the other's flat stare. "And ? Any idea where you were before ?

\- Hmm, I know I was out o' school early but after... That's perhaps the day I had my stitches removed in the hospital but I don' remember much..."

The boy had a fake dramatic sigh. "And I thought I defined "careful" precisely enough...

\- Hey, those were the ones o' our case in the mountain, I didn'..." The bespectacled child's glare forced him to stop half-way. "Ok, ok, I just don' remember not bein' careful enough but I clearly did it again...

\- Right."

Both exchanged a look when they saw they were both yawing. "Perhaps time ta sleep ? Enough adventures fer today an' I bet the girls won' cut us some slack tomorrow..." Heiji proposed as he rubbed his eyes.

"- Yea, agree..."

And the boy rolled into the nearest bed to try to get some sleep despite the late - or early now... - hour.

* * *

"- Open it !

\- What's the...

\- Now !"

The shadow, a smile on the face, switched off the receptor on the table.

 _"_ _And I guess that's the end of that little spying..."_

The person got up from the comfortable couch, lightened a cigarette and walked towards the window, to look at the snow falling down in the pale light of the night, lost in thoughts.

That plan to get rid of Mouri had failed but the information obtained from the small mike in the Osakan's o-mamori was quite… intriguing.

 _"_ _Who are you really, Conan-kun... Kudô-kun ?"_

The shadow remembered their first encounter, in the lodge. The child had been bright, right, but... What was that joke from Hattori-kun ? It was as if he was implying the boy was _solving_ the cases ? And instead of Mouri ? That was so...

But the small Tokyoite wasn't talking like any seven year old, at least not when he was with that Osakan, he was treating him as an equal, as if they had the same kind of age...

 _"_ _Was I aiming at the wrong target...? I hope you'll never learn you've been caught by a grade-schooler, Aleïev_... _"_

The fact the Russian had been arrested had been a pain, as it was endangering the drug traffic, but it was hard for that person not to smirk at the idea, amused by this twisted theory, so twisted that it had good chances to be the truth...

The boy would have to die for that but, apart from that revenge, the idea to have a little chat with him was starting to be tempting. To know what kind of conclusion they reached with his dark-skinned friend and if Mouri was also following the case or if he just was some useless puppet. But also, to solve the mystery around him, that mystery that would puzzle any medic, how a seven year old could possibly not be a seven year old ?

The answers would determine the next actions. Either having Hattori-kun finish what he started and forcing him to kill Mouri. Or letting the old man free, since killing a famous detective would boil the police's blood and that wasn't a good idea to have cops everywhere, not when you were into criminal businesses. The moustached man wasn't in the lodge after all, so he had no way to link all those investigations...

The Osakan would also have to die, of course, it would be stupid to take the risk him to recover his memories. There was no rush of course, neutralizing him could be quick, there was enough booby-traps left in his brain, that FBI agent wouldn't have been able to find them all. With just a word and the right voice, it was possible to...

The shadow threw the butt of the cigarette into the snow that was pilling up on the balcony with a sigh of boredom. Kidnapping a child wouldn't be that hard, above all when you had some intel on him but...

" _Better find someone else to do the work, already got involved too much when I programmed that detective kid..."_

And, according to that last chat between the two boys, that third party had been pointed out already. If someone was already hunting this child, the only thing left to do was to find a way to get in touch with them.

The silhouette grabbed the phone on the table and quickly dialled a number. Trafficking had this side effect to help you to meet and befriend some disreputable characters. The kind to very probably know about some underground criminal society.

"- Abe ?"

* * *

Both teens looked at each other and saw they had the same expression. Worried. Of everything that recently happened but also of what they'd be facing now.

Lions.

To be more precise, lionesses.

"- It's goin' ta be ok..." Heiji whispered, forcing a smile on his face.

"- You don't even believe in what you're saying..." Conan pointed out with a flat glare.

"- Haha... Well, eh, ya first ? Kids are cuter after all, they may be softer with ya..."

The boy had a sigh when he saw the hope in the eyes of his friend. He wouldn't say he didn't agree with the Osakan but this child act was really embarrassing for him. He nevertheless raised his head with a determined expression and forced a childish grimace on his face.

"- Tadaima !" Conan joyfully trumpeted as he opened the door of the second floor of the Agency.

"- O-kaeri, Conan-kun !" Ran's voice immediately answered.

"- Heiji !" Kazuha spurted while footsteps, hers very probably, echoed on the wooden floor. "What's the..." She started, blanking as she saw the dark-skinned and stared at his vest.

"- That's just paint, Kazuha-neechan !" The small detective pointed out, having already seen the same reaction from Kogoro the previous night.

"- Oh, eh, yea, sorry if that scared ya, was a prank o' that Thief..." The green-eyed apologised, rubbing the back of his head with embarrassment when he noticed the large scarlet stain on his parka.

The ponytailed girl was stuck between scare and anger, not really knowing which one to choose yet, when Ran arrived, to give a critical look at Conan and then to Heiji.

"- You both look tired..." She commented, at the boy's relief who had been wondering if he'd get scolded for leaving Kogoro and not coming back last night, even if he was with the Osakan. "Otou-san is already downstairs for his work, go rest a bit before lunch, if you need to..."

The detective of the West looked at his childhood friend and could see she was slowly deciding for anger for worrying for nothing and concluded it was a better idea to explain it all now despite his exhaustion.

"- I'm good, I'll be helpin' if ya need, Neechan...

\- Maa, thank you, but I'll manage, since Kazuha-chan already said she'd help. Tell us instead about your first encounter with the Kaitou Kid !

\- Yea, I'd also like ta hear about that..." Kazuha added in a much colder tone, with a bunch of ' _ahou, what have you done again?!_ ' in it.

"- I'll be lying down a bit..." The azure-eyed child announced with a yawn.

The dark-skinned looked at him with suspicion, knowing the boy wanted to investigate their previous cases, the ones that had been publically solved by both him and Kogoro. And yea, while the rest of his tiny body was saying he was tired, his eyes were showing his impatience. Clearly, he wasn't going to sleep the slightest bit.

"- We'll wake you up for lunch then." The long-haired Tokyoite said with an indulgent smile when she saw him yawn again.

"- Thanks, Ran-neechan !" He answered as he grabbed Kogoro's door's handle.

Noticing he was already getting his phone out to probably call Agasa, Heiji winked at him when he closed the door before focusing on the girls.

 _"_ _Ok, now, let's try ta be convincin'..."_


	14. Chapter 14 - Mixed Fortunes

**Hey there !**

 **Ready for this busy chapter ?**

 **I promise you some ShinRan, some KazuHei and ... some cliff ! Busy chapter, I said ; )**

 **o.O.o**

 **Laury Rose : Yup, it'll be big trouble for our boys :D Yes, that's it... We'll learn later who it is and what was his level of involvement in the last cases... ; ) And yea, I also think being able to be himself with Heiji is a great relief to Conan so... perhaps it won't deserve them here but... Shin needs it !**

 **emmahoshi : Haha, yea, it was an extra short trip, but for work, not vacation so yea, was hard to find a minute to update, I posted it from the airport before being stuck there in the snow... ^^;;; Nevermind, I'm back in France ; ) There's indeed a kind of organisation and not the BO, we'll learn more little by little... ^^ Oh, so many good ideas in that theories... really close to the point, you'll be able to see it later : ) Haha, thanks ^_^ Indeed, the beginning was perhaps a bit hard to follow and to appreciate but I think you may appreciate the fact to have been able to hold 'til the end... ; )**

 **SilverQueen08 : Maa, Jodie is already here, she's just not looking in the right direction... Ah, be careful not to catch my bad guy's attention, it's a real psycho, he could just... Ah, yea, indeed, he got you ^^;; *calls Conan and Hattori for help* ^^ But well, yea, we'll see the BO, sooner or later... :D Yup, 'gratz xD**

* * *

 **Chapter 14 - Mixed fortunes**

* * *

Three hours later, the four of them were wrapped up in their parkas and stepping into the largest temple of Tokyo, the Meiji Jingû. Ran had proposed to go out for a walk since the snow had stopped and Kazuha had insisted on going to that temple, wanting to see it under the snow, having heard it was quite a sight.

They apparently were among the only ones to have thought it was a good idea, since the place was pretty empty for a Sunday afternoon, giving the odd feeling of being alone in a forest of the North Islands and not in a megalopolis of over 10 million inhabitants.

Both girls were walking cheerfully in front of the two detectives who were, as they foresaw it, quite tired after their short night and going with quite a slower rhythm.

"- You good ?" Conan finally asked when he saw his friend was now as white as the snow covering the trees. He didn't look well during lunch and it seemed to get worse.

"- Yea, I just need somethin' ta eat ta get rid o' that taste..." The Osakan answered with a bored voice. "Found anythin' interestin' durin' yer ' _nap'_ ?

\- Nah, more like I asked some others to investigate for me since there wasn't anything obvious... The ones we had arrested are still in jail. And their families don't have any peculiar behaviour so...

\- Are some o' them well-versed into miniaturized technologies ? Or educated enough ta use some efficiently ?

\- Like everyman's... I asked the professor to look a bit further but I wouldn't give it too much hope if I were you..." The boy deplored, shaking his head.

"- An' what about a contract on us ?

\- Yea, I also thought about it so I asked to the FBI to check if they knew someone with that kind of methods...

\- So just wait, eh ?" The dark-skinned frowned as he crossed his arms against his chest.

"- Aoww..." They suddenly heard the girls exclaim, both with a tender expression on their faces as they were looking at a small wooden building.

"- What is it, Ran-neechan ?" Conan wondered as he came closer, to be grabbed by the girl so he could see the inside.

"- Look, look, there is a shooting for a wedding in there !"

Curious, the child had a glimpse through the curtains and indeed saw a woman in a white kimono, some people around her, helping with her clothes and hairdo, while another was preparing a camera. The girl was quite pretty and her facial features were soft, a bit like Ran's. She may look like this, in a few years, the day he'll ask...

The small detective's cheeks turned red at the idea and the fact his beloved was holding him against his chest wasn't helping at all.

"- That girl is so beautiful, I'd like ta wear a kimono like hers one day... Ya think it could suit me, Heiji ? " Kazuha dared to ask, a bit blushing as she was imagining he could be the one by her side that day.

But the partner of her dreams wasn't – at all – in the same mood right now.

"- One o' those please !" The Osakan was asking to a nearby stand with a wide smile, almost drooling in front of the white manjyus.

\- Aye sir !"

"- Ya damn walking stomach, we barely finished eating..." Kazuha growled with both boredom and frustration as she approached, the magic of the moment broken by the lack of romanticism of the detective of the West who was grabbing his manjyu with avidity.

"- I wouldn' need ta eat sometin' so soon if ya didn' beg Nee-chan ta put almost only Gyû suji in the oden we had fer lunch an' force me ta eat them because they were ' _my favourite'_ an' ya cooked them ' _only ta please me'_..." The dark-skinned commented with a low voice, not wanting to sound impolite towards Ran, as the girl had just been unconsciously involved in that whole plan schemed by his childhood friend. "Ya so know how much I hate these...

\- I told ya I'd be having my revenge !" The girl retorted with a proud smirk.

"- Food is not fair !

\- Spiders aren't fair either !"

Conan had a sigh when the first 'ahou' echoed in the temple, disrupting the quiet of this snowy day. " _Hard to believe those two were cuddling each other barely two weeks ago..._ " He thought with a smirk when he looked at his friend who was quarrelling with Kazuha as if they were still in primary school.

Seeing they weren't going to stop any soon, not really feeling the cold with their agitation, while she was starting to feel quite frozen, Ran finally interrupted them. "Kazuha-chan, let's go and buy some o-mamori, the ones from this temple are the most efficient of the whole city !" She proposed as she grabbed her friend's arm.

"- Yea, I guess we'll need it against that murder-magnet of a detective freak..." The pony-tailed girl agreed with a flat look at her childhood friend.

"- Why is she so tiresome the days I'm dead tired ? " Heiji sighed as he let himself fall on a nearby rock to rest a bit, rubbing his chest as it stung slightly where he had been hit, before biting with enthusiasm in his food.

"- That's what girls do, right ?

\- Don' say it too loud, yer Ran-neechan might not appreciate..." The Osakan warned with an amused smile after he swallowed his first mouthful with a relieved face. "Rah, finally... A bit cold though.

\- So your weakness is... Gyû suji ?" Conan snorted, a mocking expression on the face while he looked at the dark-skinned.

"- Okan is fond o' those... I ate so many as a kid, I can' stand it anymore. Even the smell is..." He concluded with a chill before grabbing another bite of his manjyu to get the memory out of his mind.

"- And weren't you doing better with Kazuha after what happened in that mountain ?

\- We... don' mention it..." The green-eyed detective answered, looking away with a blush. "Mutual agreement.

\- Why ?

\- We did it because it was necessary... It wasn' about feelings or whatever...

\- Oh, come on..." The bespectacled child facepalmed with boredom. How could his friend be so dense... No way Kazuha would hug him if she didn't feel anything towards him... "So you think she would have done it for anyone else ? For that Yamato-san for example ?

\- No way she could ...!" Heiji spurted, getting up and letting go of his manjyu with the surprise and the shock to imagine his childhood friend cuddling with the blue-eyed doctor.

"- Why ?" The boy insisted, trying to gently push his friend on the right track.

"- Uhhh..." The teen crossed his arms against his chest, with a really focused expression, provoking another facepalm in the boy's mind.

"- All this drama fer some food ya just waste on the floor ?" Kazuha observed when they came back and she noticed the half eaten manjyu at Heiji's feet.

"- Aaah, no way, when did I let it go ?!" The Osakan complained as he finally noticed he let it fall earlier.

"- You found your o-mamori ?" Conan asked to Ran, seeing she was keeping something in her hand.

"- Yes, look, it's a new design, they're so cute ! I also bought one for Shinichi, I'll give it to him next time."

The small detective looked at the little red pouch in his friend's hand, with a golden character on it. "Luck".

"- He'll like it I bet..." He gently smiled when he saw it was his favourite colour.

"- Hope they are efficient..." Kazuha prayed fervently.

"- Kyaaa !"

" _And that's a no.._." The boy thought, half amused, half bored.

He looked up at Heiji, to see the teen had already his eyes on the place the yell came from, the little building where was taking place the shooting they noticed earlier.

"- Kaori-san, everything's good ?" They heard a male voice ask, the photographer very probably.

"- Uh, yes, sorry, I thought it was a huge insect but that was just a leaf...

\- You silly..." A female voice giggled after that statement.

The detectives' shoulders relaxed as they understood their help wouldn't be needed this time.

"- Not that bad... " The dark-skinned admitted with a look of connivance at Conan.

"- Yes, you should keep those, they seem efficient !" He added with a smile.

Feeling his phone was vibrating, the detective of the West grabbed it with a frown, a bit uneasy. His best friend had given it back to him when they got out of the FBI car that brought them back to the agency. The programming had been removed, there shouldn't be any risk left but he was still not really at ease with incoming calls.

But that worry was for nothing as it was only the alarm he set to remember it was time to leave.

"- Time's up, guys. We got ta go back if we want ta catch our train."

The girls had one last look at the woman in white, Heiji a last one at his spoiled manjyu before throwing it in a bin with a sigh and the group left.

* * *

 **A few days later**

* * *

A treatment room. Empty. No lights on.

 _"- Ya know, that murder reminded me o' that previous case... "_

Heiji recognized his own voice, a bit muffled.

 _"- Oh, Hattori Heiji, long time no see !"_

The other voice was cheerful. But, while he could see what was around him, he still couldn't identify the white shape he was facing. He tried to focus on it, he knew he was having one of those flash-backs the FBI agent mentioned, that it was the moment to try to get as much information as he could from those short scenes but...

"- Hattori-kun !"

The Osakan jumped out of his dream to notice he had been sleeping on his desk and that a tiny dark-haired woman was looking at him over her glasses with hard eyes.

Uhh, the maths teacher, if he had been able to choose a class he slept in, it clearly wouldn't have been this one.

"- Haha, sorry, m'mam...

\- There's nothing funny in falling asleep during my lessons, Hattori-kun." She answered with an icy-cold voice before her expression finally softened a little bit. Despite the fact she was hiding it under her hard looks, she was really careful of her students and she knew that one wasn't meaning any harm usually. "Go to the infirmary if you need some sleep."

It was his last class of the day but, having the urge to check his theory immediately, the dark-skinned rubbed the back of his head with a grimace of embarrassment. "I think I will, sorry...

\- Don't be sorry, just get someone's notes to make up for today. You'll go to the blackboard next time.

\- Noted..." He confirmed, his mood darkening a bit.

The teen grabbed his bag and got out of the classroom, barely taking the time to close the door behind him, in his hurry to get his phone out. Heading to the roof not to be caught wandering in the hallways, he quickly dialled Otaki's number.

"- Hey, Otaki-han !

\- Hei-chan ! How are ya doin' ?

\- Great, great... Ne, I had a question fer ya... Do ya remember that case at the hospital ?

\- Yea, o' course, ya were one o' the witnesses after all... Nicely wrapped up once again, Hei-chan." The man observed with a mix of admiration and gratitude in the voice.

"- Haha, thanks... Just one thin', did I act strange after it ?

\- Hmm... Ah, ya said ya forgot something an' ran somewhere else

\- Out o' the hospital ?" Heiji asked with eagerness.

"- Nah, inside. I even think I was out before ya, since I didn' see ya leave. But I was busy so...

\- Ok... Do ya remember what time it was when ya left ?

\- Around 7 p.m., I'd say... I thought ya were perhaps with that nurse friend o' yers so I didn' look fer ya... What happened ? Ya sound like ya're lookin' fer an alibi..." The policeman pointed out with an amused snort.

"- Don' worry, I didn' turn ta crime..." The Osakan denied with a little laugh, perhaps a bit more nervous than usually.

" _Though, came quite close, lucky Kudô an' the Kid were there..."_

"- Well, thanks fer the help, Otaki-han !

\- Anytime..."

The green-eyed detective hung up his phone with a grin of triumph... The list of the potential culprits just dropped dramatically and that was for the best.

" _Better call Kudô..."_ He finally decided, eager to speak about his theories with his best friend.

"- Oy, Kudô ?

\- Yea ? " The slightly bored voice of the azure-eyed answered.

"- Ah, that was fast, I guess ya aren' at school anymore ?

\- Yea, I just came back home, we finished early today." He confirmed as he tiptoed to fetch the mail in the Mouri's mailbox before entering the detective's office. "Taidaima ! Tssk, drunk already...

\- Occhan ? Haha, he'll have quite the scoldin' when Nee-chan will come back...

\- She has her Karate training today, he'll be safe for a few more hours..." Conan explained with a sigh when he looked at his uncle, snoring on his desk, surrounded by empty beer cans. "So, what's up ? You remembered something ? Our culprit ?

\- I still have nothin' about the culprit but yea, I had a kind o' flash-back... I think I've been programmed at the hospital...

\- Eh ?!" The boy spurted with surprise, letting go of the mail on the floor.

"- I solved a case in there an' Otaki-han told me he never saw me goin' out after I told him I forgot somethin'...

\- You think you've been hidden among the patients and that your brainwash has been presented as a treatment ?

\- Sounds plausible, right ? While I know a good part o' the ER's staff, I've never been in the psychiatric department, I don' think they'd recognise me... An' that would mean one thin'...

\- ... The culprit works there. In that specific department." The small detective concluded before finally bending to the floor to grab the letters he let go.

"- Exactly.

\- That's great news, it's going to shorten our list quite a lot !

\- I know, that's why I called as soon as I could ! So, what's next ?

\- Just don't go alone to that hospital again..." Conan ordered with a flat voice.

Noticing a black envelope on the floor, he frowned when he saw it was to his attention, Edogawa Conan's.

"- I know, I know, 'careful', I heard ya..." Heiji confirmed with a short uncomfortable laugh. The Osakan paused a bit, waiting for an answer, before impatiently asking again. "So, Kudô ?... Ya still there ? Kudô ?!

\- They... They have her..." The bespectacled detective announced with a blank voice, clenching the letter in his little fist. "They have her, Hattori."

* * *

 **Gyû-suji : beef tendons : ) According to some, pretty good in Oden but I haven't been brave enough to try xD**


	15. Chapter 15 - Unlikely rescue team

**Hi there !**

 **Time to go and save Ran, yea !** **And Conan probably... They're really good with finding a way to be in trouble those two :p**

 **o.O.o**

 **emmahoshi : Thanks ! I was in need of some KazuHei so I imagined this little scene... And we all know that each time one of them is trying to be romantic, it fails quite pathetically :p Ahh, well, half right, half wrong as to who is the sender... Answer in that chapter ! Eh, don't forget our culprit is from the first case so, if he was observant enough, he probably saw our Conan was pretty fond of his "Neechan" ; ) Maa, yea, I guess the hospital inspection will be for later, they've got their hands full already ! ^^**

 **SilverQueen08 : Yea, if you had a search party, that would be cool. Because I made my own, you'll see it in that chapter, but I'm not absolutely sure that combi will be efficient... xD Though I'm really laughing at the idea of the both of them being working together ^^**

 **Laury Rose : Noo, don't hate me ! xD Yea, I know, I'm evil... As to what will happen in terms of revelation, enemies, what'll happen to Ran... , you'll have to read a few chapters more ; ) Yea, it was fun to have this little break, I wanted to find a way for Kazuha to have her revenge and I tried to imagine what could be the worse for a walking stomach as Heiji xD And I liked to have those little ShinRan and KazuHei, with both pairs being themselves ; ) *sighs* Phew, glad to know, I wouldn't want to be hated by one of my most dedicated reviewers xD**

* * *

 **Chapter 15 : Unlikely rescue team**

* * *

"- They... They have her..." The bespectacled detective announced with a blank voice, clenching the letter in his little fist. "They have her, Hattori.

\- What ?!

\- They ... got Ran."

Conan's eyes fell once again on the letter he was holding, white words on a black paper.

 _"Dear Kudô Shinichi,_

 _We got something precious to you._

 _I think we need a little chat. A black car is waiting for you downstairs, get in as soon as you read this letter._

 _We see you. Don't try to contact the police or the FBI, we know you like to work with those, or we'll send you more presents._

 _Kummel."_

Just in case the boy had any doubt as to what that 'precious' was or as to what 'more presents' meant, a strand of hair, of that tender chocolate brown he liked so much, was in the envelope.

They had his childhood friend and wouldn't hesitate to hurt her to make their point.

"- Kudô ?! What do they want ?!" Heiji's panicked voice was asking with urge.

"- Me. Looks like Vermouth isn't anymore the only one who knows about my identity in the Organization..." The small detective sighed, seeing that Kummel was using the same trick the blond haired BO's agent had : a mail to Edogawa Conan's attention and the letter inside to "Kudô Shinichi".

" _Were they the ones listening after all ?_ " He wondered, with a composure he didn't know he'd be able to show.

His worst nightmare was taking place right now and there was just that kind of peace in his mind. He didn't have any choice after all, no use to dwell about it...

" _Haibara would be so furious though..."_ He added to himself with a small smile, imagining the little scientist scolding him for even thinking about going into that dark car he could see by the window.

"- What ?! I'm comin' as soon as possible, just don' go alone, it's obviously a trap !

\- No, Hattori, it's my... Hattori ?!"

" _That baka..."_ He ranted at his best friend when he heard he had already hung up.

But well, the Osakan could hurry as much as he wanted, Conan knew he'd be already miles away time for him to arrive.

Just as a safety measure, the boy dialled one last number, it would have been stupid not to check.

"- Sonoko ?" He asked with his teen voice, his voice changer bowtie in the hand.

"- Ah, Kudô-kun ? How unusual for you to call...

\- Sorry, sorry, it's just that I wanted to speak to Ran, I think her phone ran out of battery, I can't reach her..." He answered, trying to sound as casual as possible.

"- Ah ? Well, sorry but I can't help you, she's not with me.

\- Ah, I forgot ! She told me she had Karate training tonight, right ?

\- Yea, but I think she probably skipped, she had that call earlier, it seemed important..." The girl added with a dreamy voice, remembering her friend's face, a bit startled when her phone rang and she saw who was calling.

"- Do you know who called ?

\- No, Ran didn't mention it... You sure everything's alright ? Anything important ?

\- Yea, everything is ok, don't worry !" The teen assured, not really happy to have brought suspicion in Ran's best friend's voice so he preferred to shorten their chat. "I'm sorry, I've got to go now, see you later !

\- Don't forget to call Ran more often !" Sonoko wanted to insist but he had already finished his call.

"That rude Baka..."

 _"So the one who abducted her knew exactly what he was doing... He even had her phone's number, for Kami's sake !"_ Conan thought with a bitter grimace.

Whoever he was, that Kummel was no amateur...

Looking once again at the letter he left on the table, the boy had a sad smile when he saw once again the dark-chocolate strand.

"- I'm coming, Ran."He whispered while removing his glasses and putting them near the envelope.

No disguise anymore.

If he was going to face his doom, it would be as Kudô Shinichi.

o.O.o

It was already dark and the snow was starting to fall again when Heiji finally arrived at the Mouri's detective agency. He hadn't even bothered to knock and directly entered the office, panting after all his rush, to see, when he turned on the light, that Kogoro was, just like Conan described it four hours earlier, lying on his desk and snoring, probably still sleeping off.

Not really minding the old man, the Osakan's eyes fell on the small table between the green couches, his attention caught by something reflecting the light he just switched on.

Glasses. Conan's.

 _"That Ahou..."_ The dark-skinned thought, guessing quickly that, if his best friend's glasses were here, it meant he finally surrendered himself, despite the fact they both knew it was a trap.

Just below the glasses was a black paper, with something taped on it, hairs, the detective of the West recognised with a chill.

His eyes went quickly across the message and he clenched his jaw when he understood what the word 'presents' was implying. No wonder the boy had just rushed into the lion's den, his Nee-chan was clearly in danger. But, once they'd got what they wanted, would they really free her ? The Organization wasn't the kind to leave any witness behind, they both knew it...

 _"No time to hesitate..."_ Heiji finally concluded, determination now on his face as he pocketed the letter and the glasses before stepping towards the moustached detective. He'd need someone to drive and the guy wasn't that useless in a fight, may he be bare-handed or with a gun, thanks to his training as a policeman.

"- Oy, Occhan !" He called, shaking the old man's shoulder. "Come on, wake up !"

Kogoro grunted, not really happy with such a wake up and blinked sleepy eyes at the dark-skinned.

"- The Osakan brat ? What are you doing there? You barely left..." He frowned as his cloudy mind identified the one in front of him.

"- I had ta come back... Listen, Nee-chan an' K... Conan-kun have been kidnapped, I need yer help ta find them !

\- Uhhh what ?!" The sleeping detective stared at the one in front of him, his alcohol long forgotten, trying to see at his expression if it was a kind of stupid joke or if that was the truth. But the only things he could see on Heiji's face right now were concern and concentration, meaning... "How long has it been ? Do you know who did that ? We need to call Megure-keibu...

\- I don' think ya wanna call the police..." The green-eyed teen pointed out as he handled the letter to the man.

"- What the..." He said with a blank voice after he read the letter and his eyes laid on the strand of hair. "What the hell is that... And to "Kudô Shinichi" ? She got kidnapped because of that brat ?!

\- Calm down, Occhan, our biggest problem right now isn' ta know who ta blame, it's ta save the both o' them...

\- But how did Conan get involved with this..." Kogoro frowned, realizing the Osakan mentioned "both" of them once again.

"- I was with him on the phone when he read that letter... I tried ta persuade him it was stupid but he decided ta try ta save Nee-chan..." The dark-skinned made up quickly, glad to have taken the envelope that was on the table as the old man would have asked too many question if he noticed that letter was to Conan's attention. It was perhaps already too late to protect his friend's identity but as long as he wasn't sure of it, he'd do his best to keep it secret.

"- That Baka ! He's a damn 7 year-old, he'll just get killed... What am I going to say to his parents ?!

\- Let's find him before anythin' happens ta him so ya won' have anythin' ta tell them. We need a car, think ya could get one ?

\- It's too late ta get a rental..." The old man sighed as he looked at the clock in the office. "I'll call Okano, it's a Mah jong pal, he lives nearby. But how will we know where to go ?

\- Thanks ta this !" Heiji grinned as he showed the glasses to Kogoro. "The professor Agasa made a few gadget fer Conan-kun, I should be able ta find him with that. An' Nee-chan, as they prob'ly are together. Let's move !"

o.O.o

"- So, mind to explain why I had to take Okano's jacket and ask him to make himself at home one hour or two?

\- Ehh... The FBI is kind o' keepin' an eye on ya, we wouldn' have wanted them ta follow us..." The Osakan answered embarrassingly.

"- Are you kidding me ?" The moustached detective spurted, turning his head at the dark-skinned.

"- Eyes on the road !" The other retorted as he grabbed the dashboard when Kogoro accidentally touched the wheel and almost sent them to the side of the road. "I heard that from some officer in Osaka's police an' he heard it from someone o' the MPD... They got one or two guys ta watch ya fer a while, they were fearin' ya ta be attacked after that case with that Russian tourist... The guy ya had arrested had some contact with the mafia.

\- But why the FBI ? They have no authority here..." The old man frowned, his look now back to the road.

"- I don' know... Perhaps they were the ones investigatin' the culprit but they couldn' stop that murder so they protected ya out o' guilt ?" Heiji proposed, sweat-dropping internally. He wasn't good at lying and he was starting to pile so many fake information that all was soon going to collapse on his head. "Turn on the left there !" He ordered suddenly as he saw they were deviating and that the little red dot on the glass was like moving away.

"- I'd have preferred them to look after Ran... How could she be kidnapped ? She's the cautious kind and, with her karate, attacking her wouldn't a piece of cake... I just hope they didn't..." Ran's father's voice broke as he imagined his little girl being beaten and forced into a car by some unknown men.

"- Hey, don' worry Occhan, as long as they don' have what they want, she'll be safe..." The dark-skinned assured, feeling the man's concern.

His eyes focused once again on the glasses, to see they'd be pretty soon there. " _So just hold on, Kudô, fer both o' ya..."_

o.O.o

The said Kudô was blinking his eyes open, feeling groggy.

Two men in black had been waiting for him in the car, apparently not really surprised to see a kid knocking at their door. They knew what he was supposed to look like.

The one sitting on the back seat had held to him a bottle and a pair of pills, giving him some choice between the hard way or the easy way, leaving no doubt to the fact the pills were at least some kind of sleeping drug. But if the men wanted to chat, killing him now had no sense, so he should be safe...

So Conan had grabbed the bottle and the pills and settled at the back while swallowing them. Despite his dry throat, he didn't even remember finishing the water, he probably fell asleep halfway.

And he was now in a room with very little light, his hands tied behind him and a nice headache. His jacket had been removed and was on a table a bit further but all the gadgets he had on him were still there, his kidnappers didn't feel the need to take those away... Or didn't recognise them for what they were.

"- Oh, I see you're finally awake ? "

The boy squinted towards the direction of the voice, knowing he heard it somewhere but... He had to quickly close his eyes when the one in front of him switched on a strong light to his face.

"- Where's Ran... -neechan ?" He finally added, trying to stay in his role of a child.

"- Oh, come on, no need to play the kid with me, I know who you are, Kudô Shinichi..." The shadow softly laughed, amusement in the voice. "Those days listening to you and to that Hattori were quite instructive..."

 _"So this is probably the one who planted the mike..."_ The small detective concluded, eyes still closed, focusing on the voice. It could belong to a young male or a female, he couldn't decide yet... Better have the other speak more.

"- I don't know what you're talking about... Where's my Nee-chan ?

\- Playing dumb, eh ? Well, don't worry, your girl is here too. And safe, for the moment. Though I don't think they'll let her go, they may use her to pressure you later..." The voice answered casually, as if it wasn't important. "But for the moment, it's just the both of us.

\- ... You're not working with the Organization ?" Conan finally asked, trying not to panic at the idea of Ran being use as a leverade for him to answer to the BO's questions. He had to focus, and it was pretty important since he apparently was facing two different entities...

"- Nah, I already have what I need on my side... But your name as a teen seemed to interest them quite a lot, so they kind of volunteered to help me in my plan, barely on my word. I had that Kummel write that letter, though he didn't really know where I was going with it... Well, as soon as I'll tell them the truth about you, they'll just have to get your fingerprints to be sure they made the good choice."

The small detective couldn't help but feel relieved at the information. For the moment, only the one in front of him was absolutely sure he was Kudô Shinichi. The others, the members of the Organization, were still unaware of it.

"- Haha, you almost look happy... But you shouldn't... It's not as if you'll be able to escape, and even if, by pure luck, you found a way, that would be without your long-haired friend. It would have been fun to program you to obey Them and spit the whole truth without being able to stop yourself to. But, well, since I could only negotiate a limited time with you, I'll be only retrieving the information I need, they can have fun with you later..."

Hearing some footsteps, the azure-eyed detective tried once again to open his eyes and caught the glimpse of some kind of metal in the shadow's hand.

A needle, very probably.

Nothing too surprising, he knew this was part of their culprit's modus operandi. But that image, that syringe in that hand, that reminded him... He looked up as he could to see the face of the one with him, close enough now.

"- You...

\- Me..." She smiled as she grabbed his arm, almost laughing at his feeble resistance. "Let's see what you have to say, kid."

* * *

 **Kummel : German / Dutch liquor (yea, same alcohol website than last time xD)**


	16. Chapter 16 - Last word

**Hi there !**

 **Our rescue team (yea, I could also call that team the "future disaster on its way" but well... :p) is ready to act ! Let's see what they'll be able to do and what they won't ... ^^**

 **And I wanted to say hmmm... mean cliff upcoming ? *hides and giggles all alone in her corner***

 **o.O.o**

 **SilverQueen08 : Maa, don't worry, as crazy as a teaming Kogoro / Heiji may sound, I bet they'll be able to do something about that: )**

 **Laury Rose : Yup, that's so much funnier like this : ) Yea, not that bad but... He's already busted enough, if that girl got anymore hints... ^^;;; Ah, well, 2 girls were remaining, we'll got the winner's name in this chapter : ) But, yea, you're on the right way ; ) Ah, nah, I'm sorry to say it's too late for the BO... But perhaps they don't know anything too compromising yet? :3 I wanted to picture a Kogoro who wasn't useless in this fic to be honest so... here is Kogoro at his best ! xD**

 **emmahoshi : haha, well, I was ready earlier than usual and since I was invited for lunch and didn't know when it would end, I preferred to publish earlier... lucky you :p Haha, well, I really appreciate Heiji but I'm absolutely convinced he's awful at making up stories... The few examples we got in the manga were enough xD Yea, she's a smart ass and she's a woman : ) I don't think I ever used a female bad guy so it was about time ! And yes, no way she'll let him leave easily, the rescue team is clearly needed !**

 **estelle : Oh ! *blushes* Well, thank you ^_^**

* * *

 **Chapter 16 - Last word**

* * *

"- Ok, here we are... Switch off the car's lights an' try ta park around here." Heiji ordered when he saw they were close enough from the signal.

Kogoro did as said and, once they got out of the car, looked with curiosity at the building the teen was pointing to him.

"- An old abattoir ?" He wondered with a low voice when he saw the name of the site on a half-faded panel.

They were in an industrial park, well, a former one, since the place was looking quite deserted and for a long time already. This building wasn't any exception.

"- No one would disturb them here, right ? I just hope this isn' their headquarters..." The Osakan prayed, not really fond of the idea of fighting hundreds of BO's agents. With a bit of luck, this plan was led only by a small team, time for them to have their "little chat" with Kudô, as they said. "Ok, now, the question is how ta get in there without bein' seen... Ah wait, I think there's..."

The teen played a little bit with the spectacle frame he had on his nose, to finally smile.

"- Those got night vision, it'll help..." He explained, before moving a bit to have a better look at the entrance. "Ok, I see two guards, I guess that's the good place... Think there's any kind o' weapon in that car ?

\- There should be a crowbar in the truck, it was there when he lent it to me last time...

\- It'll be perfect fer me. Feel like fakin' bein' drunk, Occhan ?" The dark-skinned grinned maliciously.

Five minutes later, the noise of a metallic item hitting something softer echoed faintly in the park, soon followed by the noise of the sentinel falling on the ground, knocked out, distracted by a more than convincing Kogoro in his drunk role.

"- Looks like ya did this all yer life..." Heiji smirked after the moustached man neutralized his opponent with one of his judo moves, a painful-looking atemi right into his trachea.

"- What, judo ? Of course, I was a former policeman after all." The man wanted to point out, puffing his chest with importance.

"- Yea, judo... " The Osakan agreed, stopping himself at the last moment to admit he was thinking about the "playing drunk" part.

The teen then bent to the two men, taking their belts to tie their hands behind their backs and stuffing one of their socks in their mouth.

"- That won' last long, better hurry... How good o' a shooter are ya ?

\- A bit rusty but not bad...

\- Then ya have this.

\- I can't believe we're going to..." The sleeping detective said, shaking his head as he took the gun the green-eyed was holding to him, a gun he found stuck in one of the men's belt.

"- Don' really have the choice if we want ta get K.. Conan-kun an' Neechan out o' there... Those guys got weapons an' won' hesitate ta use them.

\- Got that. Let's move then." Kogoro agreed, clenching his hand around the weapon's butt with a determined face.

Not knowing how many of them they'd found in the complex, the teen stopped a little while to look at the first evacuation plan he could see on a wall. Spotting many CO2 fire extinguishers' logos in one specific room, he knew he found the place where all the electricity was controlled, as those were the only extinguishers efficient enough for electrical fires.

"- Let's go there..." The Osakan whispered, pointing his right with the hand, switching on once again the night vision from the glasses, hoping the battery would last long enough.

Kogoro nodded and strengthen his hold around his gun, ready to intervene if they met anyone, but he finally didn't need to use it, as they arrived there without meeting anyone.

"- This place seems quite empty..." The old man concluded after he closed the door behind them.

"- I won' complain, 'cause that means this place isn' their headquarters so we have a chance ta get out o' this alive...

\- You sound like you know who kidnapped them ?" The detective noticed with a suspicious frown.

"- I think they belong ta a criminal Organization Kudô an' I met before...

\- ... That's why they took Ran ? Because you both pissed them off ?

\- ... That's the kind o' things they do..." Heiji admitted with a guilty grimace.

"- I can't believe..." Kogoro ranted, grabbing the collar of the teen with anger, making him to let go with the surprise of his crowbar that fell with a loud noise to the floor. "Just because you brats are playing detectives... If anything happens to Ran, I'll...

\- That's why I'm helpin', I don' want that an' Kudô neither..." The dark-skinned assured as he could with his throat half squished by his collar, looking in Ran's father's eyes. "An' it won' help ta fight each other right now..."

The moustached man finally noticed the teen seemed in pain and let him go with a flat look. "I don't see that Tantei freak helping, by the way..." He grumbled, looking away, not really happy to have lost his temper.

"- He is... He's doin' his best ta help yer daughter..." The Osakan panted as he massaged his throat, not wanting the old detective to think Kudô was a coward when he surrendered to his worst enemy without a second thought in the hope to find a way to help the girl. "He always will. Don' doubt it."

Seeing how serious Heiji was, Kogoro didn't insist.

"- What's next ?" He asked to change the subject, giving back the lead to the teen as a kind of apology.

The dark-skinned took his phone out to have a look at the electrical panels with its light, switching off the spectacles beforehand not to be dazzled.

"- I think they didn' want ta be spotted by a too important energy consumption so they switched on only a few parts o' the abattoir. Look, only three levers are up, I bet we'll find our hostages in there.

\- Question is, where is 'there'...

\- The areas are marked on the panel, we'll need a map ta know which is which.

\- So C1, C3 and S4..."

They both jumped when some noise interrupted their reflexion. A noise that had nothing to do with the structure of the building, meaning it had to be coming from humans.

"- Crap, I bet they heard when the crowbar fell..." The green-eyed swore as he bent to retrieve his weapon. "Put down all the levers, let's blind them, since we won' have the surprise fer us anymore..."

While the man was doing as said, the Osakan came closer to the door, switching his glasses on once again, raising the bar high above his head...

And slamming it down on the hand of the one who was entering first, one holding a weapon of course.

There was a pained groan when the man let go of his gun but he nevertheless kicked the door open as he avoided a second hit, to let his colleague do the work.

Guessing there was someone else, the teen turned at the door to neutralize their second opponent but he didn't expect him to have a torch light. Taken by surprise, his brain overwhelmed by the strong light due to his infrared glass, he fell on the floor with a grunt, unable to move anymore.

"- Oy, brat !" The moustached detective worried when he saw him on the ground.

Not thinking twice, he raised his gun and shot the man in front of him before he could react, hitting him somewhere in the shoulder. He tried to neutralize the second man but he already left, probably to bring more of his friends here.

"- Hey, you hurt ?" Kogoro inquired as he came by the teen.

"- Nah, it's that torchlight... Just gimme a sec'." Heiji asked as he sat with difficulty and removed his glasses to rub his eye. He blinked to try to see his hand in the faint light but one of his eyes was only seeing black, and that would clearly last a while.

"- That's perhaps too much to ask... One of them escaped, we'll see him soon with reinforcements I bet.

\- Ok, no break then..."

The sleeping detective held his hand to the teen to help him on his feet and they both left the room.

"- Let's look fer K... Conan-kun first, he'll be the easiest ta find." The Osakan proposed as he switched the glasses in radar mode, though he was now keeping them in his hand. "He may know where Nee-chan is or how the areas are named...

\- ...Ok. " The man reluctantly agreed, eager to find his daughter but knowing the other detective's plan was the best they could do right now.

He took his weapon out and nodded to the dark-skinned, signifying he was ready to go.

Following the little red dot, Kogoro using discreetly his phone as a torch, they crossed a few hallways, trying to avoid making any noise, which wasn't easy with all the metal remaining here and there. The room they were in now, really close to their target, was filled with hooks, chains, blades even, randomly lying on tables under a thick layer of dust.

The colour of the floors and the remaining faint metallic smell, mix of rusted iron and blood, weren't really encouraging either, Heiji noticed it with a gulp.

"- What's that mess, Kummel ?" A female voice complained.

Her face was suddenly lit up by a torchlight that brought too much light in the room to our detectives' taste so they dove down to hide behind some nearby tables before they could really detail her.

"- We got two intruders... They neutralized three agents already and I bet they're the ones who cut off the lights.

\- Speaking of lights, could you remove that one from my face, it's annoying...

\- Sorry.

\- Tsk, I thought no one knew this place...

\- No one did, so I think we're two to wonder if we chose the good partner..."

The Osakan froze when the light went down, shortly lightening the smaller shape at the woman side, a Conan with drowsy eyes she was firmly holding by the wrist. Clearly drugged or hypnotized or both, he wouldn't be able to act.

Nudging the older detective at his side to get his attention, he finally whispered to him. "Count ta ten an' find a way ta create a diversion, I'll approach that guy by the side...

\- But... Hattori-kun !" The older detective tried to stop the teen with a low voice but he was already sneaking under another table and disappeared from his sight.

 _"Crap..."_ He thought, before deciding to go along with the plan, knowing that was the best thing to do to protect the other.

"- Hands up and get away from the kid !" Kogoro yelled after he reached ten and got out of his hiding, his gun pointing at his opponents.

"- Oh, want to try a shooting contest ?" Kummel smirked with irony, using his torch to light up his other hand and to show he was holding a gun on the boy's temple. "I wouldn't say the odds are in your favour, mister..."

The detective internally ranted, of course they had been waiting for them, with that guard who escaped earlier.

"- I'm the great detective Mouri Kogoro !" He finally said with a strong voice, trying to keep the others' attention on him as he could. "Surrender yourself and let the hostages go !

\- Oh, Mouri Kogoro ?" The woman smiled. "I was hesitating in having you killed but I think you're helping me with that choice... Fifty million yens if you kill him, Kummel.

\- You know how to talk to me, Miss." The man grinned as he suddenly turned his gun to the moustached man in front of them.

"- 'Hell I would let ya !" Heiji yelled as he threw himself, crowbar firmly in the hand, on the agent of the Organization, placing with luck a nice hit on his forehead's side, and, knowing his strength, that meant at least a 20 minutes nap for anyone and a huge headache for the next few days.

"- Let Conan-kun go and now !" He ordered after he kicked the man's weapon towards the shadows under the tables and turned to the woman, recognizing her face, that face he saw in his flash-backs, unable to identify it, but now, the cloud in his mind was gone. He knew it was her, she was the mastermind they had been looking for with Kudô.

"- Hattori Heiji..." The female doctor also recognized, her smile not fading and her hand still around the azure-eyed boy's arm. "I heard from our small friend you got rid of that little program I left in your mind ? Pity, would have been useful right now... Maa, never mind, apparently you bunch totally missed the other one.

\- What other one..." The Osakan said with a blank voice, stepping back unconsciously, not really eager to go back to that zombie-him that had been able to throw the uncle over a building and hurt Conan.

"- Well, it's kind of obvious that I needed something to get rid of you after you killed Mouri but since you failed, I never got to use it... Убийца."

The green-eyed teen let go of his crowbar, his face now expressionless.

"- Good boy..." The woman laughed when she saw he was back in her control. "You know what to do, you should find plenty of things to help you in there."

"- Oy, Hattori-kun, what are you doing ?!" Kogoro wondered, not really getting why the teen was stepping back towards the tables, leaving the woman free of her moves and Conan still in her hands.

The child was now shaking, as if he had a fewer, and finally, his eyes started to shine again while a trickle of blood escaped from one of the corners of his mouth.

"- Oji-san, stop him, he'll hurt himself !" The small detective could finally yell with panic as he saw his friend had found a blade on one of the tables and now had it in the hand, he could see it when it reflected briefly the faint light of the torchlight on the floor.

"- What ?!"

The detective jumped as fast as he could but a sickening noise told him he was already too late. Finally reaching Heiji, he grabbed his shoulders and their eyes met before the teen's rolled backwards when he closed his eyelids and let his weapon go.

"- Oy !" He called when he felt the other's legs weren't supporting him anymore and he more or less slid along him to the ground.

"- Hattori !" Conan yelled as he saw them fall, jerking like a mad to get rid of the woman's grip now that he was back to consciousness to finally succeed in escaping her.

The boy rushed before she could even react to his friend's side, a lump in his throat with the fear of what he was going to see as he kneed near him.

But before he could even estimate the seriousness of the Osakan's wound, he heard a noise he had never been fond of, a trigger being cocked.

"- You shouldn't worry so much about him, it's ok, you'll be at his side soon... In the Other world." Hikari grinned.

* * *

 **Убийца : "Murderer" in Russian, don't hesitate to correct me if needed on that one^^;;;;**


	17. Chapter 17 - Knocked out

**Hey there !**

 **Last chapter of the 'let's save Ran' arc today : )**

 **Aaaand more action to come ^_^**

 **o.O.o**

 **SilverQueen08 : Hmm nah, Hikari-san isn't one of them... She's just using the fact they're interested in Kudô Shinichi : ) Oh, I hope they'll kill that bad guy's ass then, kidnapping high school detectives is just evil :p**

 **emmahoshi : Haha, well, I won't show Ran's side so no worries, this cliff will end shortly : ) Found any time to check who was Hikari ? But yea,'grats, indeed, she's a doctor xD**

 **Laury Rose : Yea, I like cliffs... I once tried to force myself to put less but I had less views and less reviews... So I went back to my old habits : ) In fact, you bunch love them, admit it :p Ah, well, answers to almost all these questions in that chapter so I won't spoil you : ) Yup, I wanted a not so stupid and not so useless Kogoro for once : ) Eh, they'll try, they'll try but human's brain is something hard to deal with... ^^;**

* * *

 **Chapter 17 : Knocked out**

* * *

"- You shouldn't worry so much about him, it's ok, you'll be at his side soon... In the Other world." Hikari grinned.

That grin quickly fell when the two Tokyoites moved away, giving free rein to the Osakan who had retrieved Kummel's gun under the tables. The teen had never been a shooter but his bullet hit the wall just a few inches over the girl's head, forcing her to take cover behind a corner.

Knowing her counterattack would be quick to come, Kogoro turned over one of the tables to protect the three of them with it, before also taking his gun out and aim at the doctor.

Their opponent, deciding this fight wasn't worth it anymore, left after sending a few bullets in their direction.

The older detective hesitated a second, feeling catching this person was important but his "team" didn't look in its best shape, with Conan looking deadly tired and Heiji bleeding, he reconsidered. There was Ran to save first, better focus on that.

"- You scared me for a second..." The boy was saying to his friend, after he saw he had been able to make an accurate shot.

"- Ta be honest, I scared myself too..." The Osakan answered with a grimace of embarrassment. "I didn' see that one comin'...

\- How are you two doing ?" The moustached man finally interrupted, knowing the teen was hurt but as to what extent, he didn't know. "And why the hell did you do that... That look... That's the same I saw back then on the Mori Tower... It wasn't really the Kid, eh ?

\- That woman programmed Heiji-niichan to kill you and himself...

\- Programmed ...? Have you been watching once again too much the TV, Conan ? And what was that ? How stupid can you be to think you'd have been able to save Ran against guns when you're less than one meter high ?" The man scolded, giving a slight tap on the boy's head, but there wasn't his usual force, he had been really scared to lose him after all.

"- Sorry, Occhan, but I think this isn' really the right moment ta answer ta yer questions, we got somethin' more important ta do right now..." The dark-skinned pointed out as he got up slowly with a pained grimace, using the table to support him.

"- I'm not sure you're in any condition to help someone right now..." The old Tokyoite observed with a frown.

"- This looks impressive but I managed ta shake it off halfway an' ta avoid the worst, just scrapped a rib... An' ya, K... Conan-kun ? Did she ... harm ya in any way ?

\- She just asked questions..." The bespectacled detective answered, wanting to reassure his friend about the fact that he hadn't been programmed, as he felt it was his real interrogation there. He had kind of been aware of everything around him all the time, his conscience was just left in a white fog while his brain gave answers he didn't want to... "Ah, and she drugged me at some point, though I think it's fading now, that's probably why I've been able to get rid of her control..."

Kogoro's eyes fell on the boy... How could a seven years old child speak so casually of such things ?

"- Perhaps the same kind o' crap she gave me last time..." Heiji concluded with a flat look. "Any idea where Nee-chan is ?

\- Nah, they didn't let me see her..." Conan regretted, concern on his face.

"- Maybe one of them mentioned an area ? " The old man proposed, remembering those levers they saw in the electrical room.

"- I think I was the only one around here but that's all I know...

\- What if the areas are named accordin' ta the processes ? This looks like a cuttin' zone in here, so perhaps the C1 an' 3 we saw earlier ?" The Osakan said, half for himself, only expressing his thoughts.

"- Then S4 would be... The slaughtering zone ?

\- If that's it, we have to follow those overhead rails, they'll lead us right there." The boy declared, getting up to show the metal lines on the ceiling with his light watch, showing they were going deeper, towards the direction he had been held captive in and to which the woman escaped.

"- No more time to lose then." Kogoro decided before taking the lead.

The dark-skinned discreetly gave his gun to his best friend, knowing he'd be more useful to him.

"- An' fer Kami's sake, knock me down if that damn woman tries again ta control me..." He pledged the child with a low voice, before following the old detective and retrieving his crowbar on the way.

o.O.o

"- There are three guards here, I think we got the right place..." Conan stated with a low voice after taking a glimpse of the next room with his infra-red glasses, now that Heiji gave them back to him. They had also grabbed his stuff from the room he was previously in, starting by his vest that was really needed in the cold of that unheated complex.

The boy was, luckily for him, switching his glasses off when the lights came back into the place.

"- That won't help..." The sleeping detective sighed, blinking like mad, time for his eyes to get used to the strong light. "We need a plan..."

The green-eyed, blinking even more after being dazzled in the control room, was looking down to protect a bit his eyes when his look fell on his bloody hand and jacket, and that brought a malicious grin on his face. "I have an idea ... But I'll need the gun back, K... Conan-kun."

After one last nod at each other, the Osakan and the older Tokyoite positioned themselves behind a corner and opened fire on the guards. And their response wasn't long to come, as planned by the dark-skinned teen. Now, it was just a question of timing.

When the third bullet echoed in the corridor, he threw himself on the floor with a pained grunt that wasn't that hard to fake when his injury touched the hard ground.

"- I hit one !" One of the guards rejoiced when he saw the silhouette lying on his back with a bloody stain in the chest area.

"- Just one left then, let's chase him, he'll be an easy target..." The one who sounded like the leader decided.

"- I saw him escape to the right !" The last one informed the group.

"- Let's go then ! And stay packed."

They barely had a look at Heiji, the blood on him was saying enough, and they rushed after the sleeping detective.

Hearing their footsteps fading away, the detective of the West opened an eye before retrieving his weapon and getting up as he could when he saw he was alone.

"- Oy, Neechan, ya there ?" He asked when he reached the door the men were guarding.

"- ... Hattori-kun ?"

An expression of pure relief appeared on his face : they found her and she was alive.

"- Ya ok ?

\- Yea... I don't really know what happened, there was that call from Hikari-san and then, when I arrived at the meeting point, I blacked out and found myself in there..." The girl explained, sounding still surprised at how fast and surprising her kidnapping had been. "But why me... ?

\- We'll speak about that later, the most important right now is ta get ya out. Could ya step away o' the door ?" The dark-skinned asked as he removed his jacket, wanting to use it as a silencer for his gun, not really eager to inform the guards he wasn't that much of a dying man after all.

He clenched his teeth with a pained hiss when he removed the cloth that stuck to his wounded side but ignored it and rolled his parka into a fluffy ball he pushed against the door's lock.

"- Ok, at 3, I'll be firin', ok ?

\- Ok !

\- 1... 2... 3 !"

A muffled bang was all there was to hear, to the green-eyed teen's relief, and he was finally able to turn the door's knob.

Ran was in a corner, hands tied in her back. While her hairs were a bit messy, she overall looked good and smiled at him when he came near to free her.

"- Are you alone ?

\- No, Occhan an' Conan-kun are also here, they're distractin' yer guards, we need ta help them.

\- Conan-kun ...? " The long-haired girl wondered with a startled look. "What is he doing here... ?

\- He wanted ta play the hero, as always..." Heiji smirked, knowing that wasn't that far away of the truth. "Let's go !"

Seeing he briefly got his hand to his ribs as he got up, the Tokyoite's eyes widened when she finally noticed the scarlet on his sweatshirt.

"- Hattori-kun, you...

\- I'm good, we'll worry about that after, we need ta find the others first."

With a sigh, he let his gun behind him in the cell.

"- No more bullets" He lied to Ran.

In fact, he knew some were remaining. But to be honest, since they could meet Hikari anytime in their run out, he wasn't really feeling like keeping a weapon he could use once again against himself... Or the others.

o.O.o

Kogoro was running in the hallways, in the direction of the cutting zone they previously left, doing his best to zigzag and take cover when he could behind some corners. He had been able to shot one man down but he didn't have a lot of bullets left, shooting randomly wouldn't help, so he had to be on the defensive side at the moment with the two others behind him.

Conan, hidden on the way, waited for him and the group to pass him before knocking the last one down with a sleeping needle, precise as ever with his little gadget.

The one guard remaining nevertheless rushed forward, not noticing he was on his own now, too focused in this little game of hide and seek. Doing his best not to be seen or not to be left too far away behind, the boy did his best to follow him, adjusting his own speed to the man's.

But he was clearly too slow and when he heard a shootout a few meters in front of him, he panicked as he entered the cutting room they were in beforehand, he recognised it and that was confirmed by the fact Kummel was still on the floor.

Seeing the guard had his back at him - and his gun at Kogoro - he switched on his power-enhancing shoes and kicked one of his high-speed soccer balls to the man's head.

"- What was that... ?" The moustached detective wondered, getting out of his hideout when he saw the man was on the floor.

"- Just a soccer ball !" The azure-eyed child answered innocently with a smile. "Let's go back to Ran-neech... "

Conan was interrupted in the middle of his sentence when a strong arm encircled his throat, knocking his breath away. In the corner of the eye, he recognized Kummel, who was finally back to his senses, and had stuck a blade just below his jaw, jumping at the opportunity that was given to him.

"- Let that weapon go." The agent ordered, pushing his blade harder against the boy's neck.

Feeling there was nothing to negotiate with someone with such hard eyes, Kogoro obeyed slowly, his hands now up as a sign of his good will.

But something else had also motivated his choice. Her eyes. Ran's eyes when she saw the scene.

Kummel, as if he had a sixth sense, heard the barely audible growl coming out of the girl's throat but that was already too late, as the only thing he saw when he looked behind him was her shoe coming straight to his face.

Hit just where Heiji did before, the man blacked out once again, not even conscious anymore when he finally landed on the ground, five meters away.

"- Scary..." The dark-skinned observed in a whisper after a whistle of admiration when he also entered the place, having seen the scene from behind.

Ran, on her side, was kneeling in front of the little detective, one hand on each of his shoulders, to make sure he was alright. Seeing he just had a little scratch on the jaw, probably from when the man had been knocked out, she grabbed him and hugged him with a relieved sigh.

"- Raaaaan !" Her father exclaimed, tears in the eyes to see his little girl was alright, grabbing both Conan and her in his arms.

"- Hmm..." Heiji finally dared to interrupt after a few moments. "This is really touchin' but we should be leavin', we don' know how many o' them are still there, first priority is ta leave the place..."

This remark being filled with common sense, the three quickly broke their hug and got up, ready to leave.

"- Over there." Kogoro said, pointing the way they took to go in with the hand, while the other was now back around his weapon's butt. Though he knew he had only one bullet remaining so it was more for the show than anything else : if they met anyone else, he'd have to bluff...

But his fears were unfounded, since they managed to go out in less than ten minutes and were rushing back to the car, though their eyes were often looking behind them.

They threw themselves in the vehicle with a sigh and the older detective accelerated, leaving that place behind them with a visible relief.

Hearing the Osakan was panting with pain after their little run and remembering Conan was probably full of drugs, he knew what his next destination was. "Ok, let's find the nearest hospital now...

\- Beika Hospital would be a better idea..." Conan objected, taking his phone out to text Jodie, knowing he'll need once again her help.

"- Tell that to your Osakan friend, I'm not sure he'll enjoy a 30-minutes ride right now...

\- I'll manage..." The dark-skinned intervened despite the fact he was short-breathed. "Beika is safer...

\- Safer ?" Kogoro wondered, not really getting their point but seeing their serious faces. "You will both have a lot of things to explain to me..." He sighed.

But he nevertheless obeyed.


	18. Chapter 18 - Under protection

**Hi there !**

 **So, time to have a bit more explanations about what happened, next 2-3 chapters will be dedicated to it... Less filled with action but necessary for the plot ! : )**

 **o.O.o**

 **SilverQueen08 : Maa, I wasn't going to leave her in such a pinch ! ^^; Oh, that would be great : ) I don't know for the authors, but for the readers, I really don't like Wattpad, it's not flexible enough... So I'd prefer to read your work on FF ^^**

 **Emmahoshi : Haha, yea, well, perhaps it'll be needed for the chapters 19/20 since we'll be mentioning the former cases but that's all : ). Ah, it was a bit complicated maybe, but she didn't want to be the one to abduct / kill Ran or Conan so she had this idea of using the BO to do the dirty work. Like this, no way to know she was involved : ) She just didn't plan for Heiji and Kogoro to find them so fast...**

 **Laury Rose : Yea, such a petty thing won't stop him ! ^^ And yes, we'll have a lot of explaining next 2-3 chapters and after... Back to cliff paradise until the end ! xD You'll see then who will be involved and who won't... : ) (haha a bomb under the car ? I could have... but you sound almost as evil as me... xD)**

* * *

 **Chapter 18 : Under protection**

* * *

Conan was almost happy for once to have his blood taken for a toxicological analysis as it allowed him to escape to Kogoro who had been looking at him more than suspiciously since they had been welcomed at Beika hospital at what looked like a back door, and led to an area with severe looking guards in the hallways.

Luckily for him, Jodie had been quick to arrive despite the late hour and her usual mini-skirt had been of a great help to distract the moustached detective.

"- Oh, Jodie-sensei !" Ran recognized her former English teacher, waving at her with a smile.

"- Mouri-san ! Are you ok ? I heard you had been kidnapped...

\- I'm good, they didn't mistreat me. It was perhaps just a bit scary..." The girl admitted with a pinch of embarrassment.

"- That's a relief... I'm sorry, we had your father's office under surveillance after this case with that Russian businessman but we never expected someone could go after you...

\- I'd like to have more information about that fact, Miss..." Kogoro asked with a hard voice, leaving aside his goofy face as the conversation went to more serious matters. "I'm Mouri Kogoro, Ran's father and detective as you probably know.

\- Of course. I'm Jodie Saintemillion, FBI agent." The blond-haired answered, shaking the hand that was held to her. "Oh, cool Kid !

\- Good evening, Jodie-sensei !" Conan smiled as he approached the group.

"- How are you feeling, Conan-kun ?" Ran worried as she saw him rubbing his arm.

"- That was just a small prick, I'm old enough not to be afraid of needles anymore !" He assured with some kind of fake childish pride.

"- You're still a bit pale though..." The girl deplored with a frown.

"- Well, it's late for a seven years old..." Jodie observed after a glimpse at her wristwatch. "Even for us adults, it's quite late... There's an hotel, at the other side of the street, how about spend the night over there ? I know you have a lot of questions, Mouri-san, but this story is too long and I think we'd need Hattori-kun's point of view so better keep that for tomorrow, if you don't mind...

\- How is he by the way ?" The moustached detective wondered, aware that the wound he had wasn't life-threatening but nevertheless concerned.

"- The doc' told me he'd be as energetic as always after a few good nights of sleep but he needs rest just now.

\- Good. So it indeed looks like we'll have to wait for tomorrow for explanations...

\- Yup. I'll go with you to the reception desk and fetch you there tomorrow morning. Around 9 a.m., would it be ok to you ?

\- I still feel bad at the idea of going to such a fancy hotel when we're close enough to walk home..." The long-haired girl pointed out, not really at ease at the idea of spending the night in the high class building she saw when they parked the car.

"- Please accept, for me. It'll be easier to protect you in that hotel, I wouldn't want you to be abducted again..." The blond haired insisted with a concerned face.

"- Ok, ok, I give up !" The girl smiled before crouching to Conan. "I've always wanted to try one of those luxury bathrooms they have... Let's have a bath together once we're settled, ne, Conan-kun ?

\- H... Hai !" The boy agreed as enthusiastically as he could but he couldn't hide the little blush on his cheeks as he bowed his head.

"- Let's move then !" Jodie declared.

o.O.o

"- You sure you don't want to warn them ?" The FBI agent frowned as she walked in the hallways, now back to the hospital.

"- Nah, Ran wouldn't have accepted me to come back... I prefer to explain that to her once I already left ! And I need to talk to Hattori..." The azure-eyed child answered with a yawn, not really minding to drop the honorifics once alone with the woman. She knew he was special, though she didn't seem to know or to be really curious as to where it came from. She'd just help, recognizing his intellect that had helped her and her co-workers more than once. "You have enough agents at the hotel ?

\- Two in the hallways and one checking the security cameras, we're good, don't worry." The woman confirmed with a soothing pat on the small detective's shoulder as he stopped in front of a door.

"- Room 1810 you said ?

\- Yea. Jake is already in there, he sent me a text earlier to warn me a few minutes ago."

With a nod to signify he got that last part, Conan turned the knob to go in as silently as he could, not wanting to interrupt something if the FBI specialist and his friends were already at it.

But these precautions were useless as both were chatting, the Osakan in a half-sitting position thanks to a bunch of pillows in his back and the American agent settled in a seat near the patient's bed.

"- Hey, K... Conan-kun ! " Heiji smiled as he turned his head to check on the two who just entered. "Kind o' ya ta come ta visit me so late !

\- Don't rejoice too much, I'll charge you for this." The boy answered with a smirk, before letting his eyes lay on his friend. Remembering the teen wasn't alone, he looked at the specialist. "Good evening, Jake-san.

\- Good evening, Conan-kun. I was going to start but you and Jodie may want to talk to Hattori-kun first ? " The FBI agent asked, looking up at the blond-haired with an interrogative look.

"- Yea, just a sec' please..." She confirmed when she saw the teen's nod.

"- I'll be in front of the door.

\- Jodie-han, could ya do me a favor ?" The dark-skinned teen pledged with a serious look at the girl once the man left. "Could ya bring Kazuha here ? I hate the idea o' her bein' involved in this but she knows the culprit, I wouldn' want that crazy woman ta attack her...

\- I'm on it !" Jodie nodded before taking her phone out to call a member based at Osaka, stepping a bit away from the bed.

"- So, did you manage to break yourself something again ?" The small detective asked with a fake flat stare.

"- Again... ? I don' think I ever broke myself somethin', perhaps a few bruises sometimes... That rib is just slightly cracked, it doesn' count, right ?" The detective of the West pointed out, a smile of embarrassment on his face. Seeing joking didn't work great, he changed for a more serious expression."Could have still been much worse if I didn' feel somethin' was wrong with me stabbin' myself in the stomach halfway... An' ya ? She didn' ... ?

\- Nah, I don't think so..." The azure-eyed boy confirmed as he shook his head, speaking with a lower voice to be sure the blond-haired couldn't hear them from where she was. "I was just... You know, I was awake but I couldn't stop myself from telling everything I could.

\- Everythin' _... Everythin'_ ?" The green-eyed frowned, darkening even more when the boy confirmed his doubts. "Uhhh, stinks...

\- Yea... The FBI and the police went to the site afterwards but they couldn't find her. Or even that Kummel.

\- Wow, are ya tellin' me two bad guys knowin' yer identity are runnin' out there ?

\- Don't remind me..." Conan complained as he ruffled his hairs with frustration. "Though, according to what that woman told me when I was captive, Kummel only knew Ran and I may be related to "Kudô Shinichi" but he didn't know how. He wrote that damn letter only according to Takaishi's instructions.

\- So maybe only one bad guy ta know then ? Hey, look at the bright side, thanks ta the fact ya had yer badge on ya, we could save ya an' yer Neechan !

\- Yea... I can't believe you teamed with Kogoro-san by the way...

\- Maah, he can be useful sometimes..." Heiji concluded, amused by the astonished grimace of his best friend. "As long as ya don' ask him ta think, he's even good..."

Both teens were snorting with laughter when the FBI agent came back near of the bed.

"- I missed something ?" She wondered with a critical look at both young detectives.

"- Nah, nah... So, have ya been able ta find someone ta look after Kazuha ?" The Osakan asked, now displaying a serious face.

"- Yea, two of our agents are on it. She should be here tomorrow morning.

\- Thanks.

\- Uh, uh..." Conan said with a little pinch of apprehension when he got his phone out, catching the other two's attention.

"- Ah, did Mouri-san finally notice you were missing ?" Jodie wondered, a little smirk of tease on her face.

"- There's only one way to know..." The boy sighed as he accepted the call.

"- Conan-kun ?! Where are you ?!" A female panicked and loud voice asked at the other side of the line.

 _"Bingo..."_ The Tokyoite thought with a sigh. "I'm with Heiji-niichan...

\- I can't believe you... The FBI said it was dangerous !"

The small detective felt a bit guilty at Ran's voice. The girl was trying to scold him but she couldn't hide the concern that was in her voice. He had her worried, he deplored with a sad expression.

"- I'm sorry, Nee-chan, Conan-kun did this because he was worryin' fer me, don' blame him too much..." Heiji intervened, having noticed his friend's face, not wanting him to take all the blame.

"- Hattori-kun ? Are you...

\- Tired ?" The dark-skinned proposed a bit bluntly, not wanting to start another subject with the girl, knowing he'd need some time to work with Jake before the morning. "Yes, an' I think we all are so I'm sendin' back the kid ta ya, I'll have an agent bring him back at the hotel, ok ?

\- Yes...

\- I'll be right here, Ran-neechan !" The azure-eyed child confirmed before hanging up. "Well, I'll be heading back then..." He said with a slightly disappointed voice, as he had planned to stay with his friend to discuss the case and perhaps help him as he could to fight his mind-control.

"- Ask one of the guards near the back door, I warned them, one of them will accompany you." Jodie informed him, still a bit amused at this scene she had seen coming.

"- Ok, thanks.

\- See ya tomorrow mornin' then ! Call Jake-han fer me when ya see him, I can' sleep yet.

\- Yea... Good luck with that, Hattori." Conan wished as he locked his eyes with his friend's.

"- Thanks ! Shoo, now !

\- Ok !"

After one last nod at each other, Heiji looked with a little smile at the boy running as fast as he could back to his Neechan, barely stopping to tell the FBI specialist he could come back in.

"- Ah an', Jodie-han !" He asked, seeing the woman was leaving to leave him some intimacy. "Could ya please bring me back the bag I left at Kogoro-han's office ? I clearly need clean clothes...

\- Haha, indeed, clearly..." The blond-haired softly laughed when she saw the pile of clothes the teen was pointing at, with some kind of indefinite colour, a mix of grey and brown. "I'll see what I can do.

\- Thanks ! Ok, back ta work, let's start the step 2 o' that mind defusin', Jake-han !" The teen smiled at the man who was coming back in.

o.O.o

"- I won't listen any longer ta anything ya have ta say ! Tell me where's Heiji and now !"

The loud voice that had echoed in the hallway just in front of the Mouri's hotel room was pretty familiar to its inhabitants.

"- Kazuha-chan ?!" Ran wondered as she opened the door, still in her pyjamas.

"- Ran-chan ?!

\- Ah, Heiji-niichan asked Jodie-sensei to have someone bring Kazuha-neechan here yesterday..." Conan informed them as he opened his chamber's door with owlish eyes, having been woken up by the noise. "He was afraid she could be attacked...

\- He's here ?!" Kazuha asked with a hopeful voice, stepping into the hotel room and starting to look around.

"- He's not here but he's close. Why don't you have a seat ? We'll explain what we can to you..." The Tokyoite girl proposed.

Seeing the Osakan, after a startled look, nevertheless took a seat, she nodded at the two FBI agents at the door before closing it.

"- I still can't believe he had me taken out of my bed ta send me ta Tokyo in the middle of the night... those guys didn't even let me pack !" The ponytailed girl was now mumbling, her chin on her hand.

"- But I think I know why and that's perhaps for the best..." Ran observed as she took a seat near her.

The azure-eyed boy hesitated a second to settle with them but a yawn so huge that it brought tears to his eyes convinced him otherwise. He was in need of sleep, there was still one hour before meeting Jodie downstairs, better rest a bit longer.

"- ... You remember Hikari-san from that case during our ski resort ? After I got a call from her yesterday, I've been kidnapped... My father said she was involved with some kind of criminal society, can you believe that ?!

\- No way !"

Conan closed silently the door behind him, the sound of the girls' chatting now muffled. Despite how sleepy he was, he identified another piece of the puzzle he and Heiji were trying to solve.

He remembered Ran and Hikari exchanged their numbers at the lodge when they split in two teams to find Heiji, Kazuha and Ryo. But to think that the doctor would use it like that later...

Either she was pretty lucky or... She was thinking so many steps ahead it was starting to be scary.

The small detective settled back on his pillow with a sigh, knowing that he wouldn't be able to fall asleep again, as his brain was already back to the former cases she could be involved with, trying to see them with a new eye after that revelation.

And, indeed, when Ran knocked on his door to wake him up, his eyes were still wide open.


	19. Chapter 19 - Truths

**Heya !**

 **Yup, early release, that's a kind of pre-valentine gift from me xD And you'll still have your chapter tomorrow : )**

 **Since those chapters are just chatting / explanation, I feel it's perhaps a bit too long for you so better go through them and fast ; )**

 **o.O.o**

 **SliverQueen08 : Oh ok : ) Maaa, we'll speak about that programming in that chapter : ) Uhh 2:44 am ? Bet school was pretty hard the following morning ^^;;**

 **Laury Rose : *looks at what is incomming * yep, he'll clearly regret not to have taken a good night of sleep :p Haha, sorry, no wonder, since it's just chatting in those chapters^^; Yep, it looks like he starts to be able not to obey to Hikari's critical commands... Was about time ^^; Yea, how evil is she and how much can she plan in advance ? You'll have to wait a bit but you'll have those answers xD**

 **Boogum : Oh, nice to see you around ! : D And thanks for taking of your time to review as you could, above all if you were tired^^;; Glad you enjoy the story so far,hope the rest will entertain you too ; )  
**

 **Emmahoshi : Yea, I kind of feel she acts like that in the anime so I did the same in here. She just follows Conan's orders, just like Takagi... ^^; Haha, let's define "nice"... xD But yea, telling about Conan / Kudô to the BO had no use for her at that moment so she kept it for perhaps later : )**

 **Purpalz Miner : And he won't be for a while, poor kid :p Yep, I update ! And even sooner that usually :p**

* * *

 **Chapter 19 : Truths**

* * *

Finally, Jodie hadn't been the one to fetch them, she sent one of her agents, one of the two who brought Kazuha to the hotel previously. The five of them were now in the hospital, heading to Heiji's room.

Conan recognised the door from where he was when it opened on a nurse who left the room with a small nod. Good, his friend was there and awake.

The boy accelerated not to let the door close again and stepped in first, to see the dark-skinned teen's eyes were still a bit sleepy but he was already fully dressed, thanks to the fact Jodie brought him his bag earlier, and wasn't alone.

"- Good morning !

\- Hey, Cool Kid ! Slept well ? Could enjoy a bath with your big sis' ?" The blond-haired FBI agent smiled as she watched him go in.

"- Hai..." The small detective answered, unable to look at Heiji who was almost spitting out the water he just drank along his meds before throwing a look filled with smut's allusions at the azure-eyed child.

"- Hey, seeing how happy ya seem, I guess I worried fer nothing... "Kazuha stated with a flat voice as she stepped in with Kogoro and Ran and heard her childhood friend who was now laughing at the boy's blush.

She didn't want to sound that harsh but she had been concerned since Ran had told her he had been hurt so seeing him, in his everyday clothes, laughing wholeheartedly with Conan and a big boob-ed foreigner was too much for her.

"- Hey, Kazuha ! " The dark-skinned saluted, calming a bit at the girl's cold tone. "How was yer trip ?

\- I was stuck between two guys in black tuxedos who didn't want ta be more than a meter away from me, how was it, in yer opinion..."

Seeing the Osakan didn't dare to retort anything, probably knowing whatever answer he'd give wouldn't be the good one, she went on and with a louder voice. "POOR, of course ! What the heck did ya do again, ya ahou !

\- Hey, I didn' do anythin', those guys did..." The dark-skinned tried, involuntarily trying to hide his head between his two shoulders to protect himself from the angry ponytailed girl.

"- Then why did ya have me come all the way ta Tokyo ?

\- Because o' that crazy chick who prob'ly wanna have her revenge on me, I wouldn' want ya ta...

\- ...WHAT ?!" The girl's yell was loud again, but it wasn't anger anymore.

"- Hey, could you keep it down, this is a hospital !" A nurse remembered them, suddenly bursting in, boredom on her face. "And just how many are you in there ? Please respect the visit rules...

\- Sorry for the inconvenience we may have caused..." Ran apologized with a little bow, being the closest to the door and therefore of the nurse.

"- ... It's ok, dear..." The woman said, quickly calmed down by the Tokyoite's politeness. "Just mind your voices, for the patients' well-being.

\- I will, I'm sorry I was so loud..." Kazuha deplored, her cheeks a bit red.

"- Thank you."

Kogoro looked at the nurse going away and his eyes laid on his daughter and the Osakan girl. "That nurse is still right, we're too many for this small room. Ran, go and grab something to eat with your friend, I need to talk with Hattori-kun and Saintemilion-san. Just stay within the hospital.

\- But... " The ponytailed girl tried to refuse, her eyes on Heiji.

"- It's ok, I'm just here, I won' leave without ya." The teen reassured her with a warm smile.

"- Ya better not ta !" was her way to say yes, as she headed towards the door.

"- You're coming, Conan-kun ?" Ran wondered, knowing he didn't have breakfast either so he might be hungry.

"- He'll stay. "The moustached detective answered before the boy could even say a word. "I bet you want to, right ?"

The azure-eyed boy nodded, startled by the fact the old-man didn't try to get rid of him, as he always did.

"- Well, laters then !" The long-haired girl said as she closed the door behind her.

Conan, shaking off his surprise, finally decided to settle on Heiji's bed, the only chair of the room being occupied by Jodie. The Osakan moved so he could face the older detective and give more space for the boy to sit more comfortably but that move forced a pained grimace on his face.

"- You ok ?" Kogoro asked with what he could of concern in his voice, having noticed the dark-skinned expression. "Shouldn't you be lying down ?

\- It's only a cracked rib an' some stitches, I'm not dyin' or whatever..." The teen shrugged, wanting to take the drama out.

"- Ok... So, fit enough to give us some explanations about this recent mess, starting with my daughter's kidnapping ? I think you all have information I haven't..." The man pointed out with a flat look at the three facing him.

"- Ehhh... Ok..." Hattori reluctantly accepted, looking for Conan's eyes to have his approval.

"- It all started with that case, in the mountain when we were stuck in that blizzard..." The boy started, at his friend's relief.

"- Ah, when I ended with both rooms for me alone ?

\- Yea... Then there was that case when we came back, with that Russian tourist...

\- An' finally, a case in an Osakan hospital." The green-eyed finished, still not having all his memories about that case but enough to outline the main information they got out of it.

"- Your suspect likes to travel ? " Kogoro observed, a bit ironically. "Sounds pretty disparate to me...

\- Clearly..." Jodie agreed with a raised brow. " What's the link ?

\- A nationwide hospital's drugs embezzlement, ta sell them in Russia. An' the one very probably conductin' this traffic, Takaishi Hikari.

\- The one we faced yesterday evening ?" The moustached detective wondered, looking with surprise at the Osakan. The girl indeed looked dangerous while holding Conan, a gun in the hand, but she didn't look like an international criminal.

"- Don't trust her face, that woman is crazy, I tell you..." Conan confirmed with a chill as he remembered how emotionless the doctor had been, only focused on her goals, ready to everything to reach them, not even thinking twice before hurting children and teens...

"- But _your friend_ leaves quite the trail of bodies behind her, how come no one noticed ?" Jodie intervened, a frown on her face.

"- She never acts directly..." Heiji deplored, shaking his head with a depressed face. "She always finds a way ta manipulate or ta pay someone ta do the dirty work...

\- Though, perhaps that case at the lodge..." The small detective proposed, having given a thought or two about it this morning.

"- I was wonderin' also..." The dark-skinned agreed, crossing his arms in his thoughts. "If Yoshida had been manipulated, there's no way he wouldn' have noticed after that first murder, there was so much blood everywhere... I don' think someone who has been programmed can carry out such a complicated command.

\- Once again with your programming..." Ran's father noted with a flat look at both teens. "Stop with the Sci-Fi, boys...

\- This is no Sci-Fi, Mouri-san." Jodie intervened with a serious face. "This is a reality. And one of our specialists confirmed Hattori-kun had been programmed. And by someone extremely gifted at it.

\- That's how she works, she manipulates someone ta get the meds fer her from the hospitals' reserves an' when he or she gets busted...

\- ...Either she doesn't need that person anymore so she forces him to kill himself , or she has him to get rid of the witnesses or frame someone else..." The azure-eyed child sighed, finishing the Osakan's explanation.

"- The 'frame someone else' thingy happened in that case I told ya about, in that hospital o' Osaka. Takaishi tried ta frame a good friend o' mine. But I solved the case an' found the true culprit. An' when I saw she was workin' there, I realized that case looked quite like another that happened six months ago, once again in a hospital she worked in. So I followed her...

\- Careful, you said..." Conan pointed out with a low voice, to be heard only by his best friend.

He had a small grimace of embarrassment before going on. "... An' the next thing after that is me startin' ta attack Mouri-han an' tryin' ta kill myself as soon as she says the magic word..." The dark-skinned concluded with a bored voice before rubbing his eyes to try to chase the tiredness away.

"- So that wasn' the Kid after all... Any luck it happens again ...?" Kogoro wondered, paling a bit at the idea of being so close to someone who could attack him, perhaps at any moment.

"- I won' try ta kill ya, if that's the question..." Heiji smiled, amused by the man's visible fear. "An' I shouldn' try again ta take my own life... But there are some stuff remainin', I'm apparently still sensitive ta her suggestions, I got ta work with Jake-han - the FBI specialist - ta get rid o' this totally...

\- You haven't been able to last night ?" The blond-haired agent wondered, knowing they spent quite a while together.

"- Nah, we tried but the drugs they gave me fer my rib kind o' messed with the therapy...

\- But the most dangerous things are behind us, right ?" The older detective wanted to make clear. Seeing the dark-skinned nod, he had another interrogation. "But why is she after me... ?

\- Since that case with the Russian tourist, I think..." Conan answered, with a voice that was perhaps too adult-looking for his hidden identity, fact that Heiji pointed out to him with a little nudge, so he switched to a more childish attitude. "It's thanks to Tome-san, remember how he said the drugs used in that case were available only in hospitals ?

\- An' the drugs from that traffic are sold ta Russia... Just add two an' two...

\- We already knew he was involved in a drug traffic in Eastern Europe and probably a part of the Russian mafia, we were following him... " Jodie explained, according to the version she agreed beforehand with Conan when he called them after that case.

"- But this wasn't just a Russian traffic, he was a mule for a Japanese one also..." The detective of the West added. "An' since the victim was the culprit's associate, he'd prob'ly also know or was a part o' that drug traffic. I bet that, after some disagreement between those two guys, he became an inconvenient witness... Aleiev just got what he needed from Takaishi ta disguise this murder as a suicide.

\- But I solved the case. Messing up with their plan..." Ran's father concluded, getting where the teen was going in his explanation.

"- Yea, that's why we preferred to assign one or two men for your protection, we knew how powerful he was in his country, there could have been reprisals..." The blond-haired explained with a look at Conan, still covering for him.

"- But, eventually, the threat came from Japan, Takaishi wanted ta have her revenge an' since I accidentally discovered who she really was, she took the opportunity I gave her, wantin' ta kill two birds with a stone...

\- And since you didn't carry out your mission, she planned Ran's kidnapping ? Kogoro proposed with a frown. "But that letter was addressed to Kudô Shinichi... But it has been sent at my office...

\- Don' try ta guess what's happenin' in her head, she's a psycho..." Heiji pointed out, looking at the small detective in the corner of the eye, trying to cover the real motive of the criminal as it would blow up his hidden identity. "Well, in conclusion, lucky we had Conan-kun an' the professor's gadgets !" He said, ruffling the boy's hair to change the subject.

"- Yea..." The moustached man admitted, before getting closer to the azure-eyed child "By the way, you never answered, what was that mess ? Why did you try to go there alone, that was so damn crazy...

\- Haha, I didn't really think about it..." Conan laughed embarrassingly, rubbing the back of his head.

The man raised his fist in the hair to slam it on the boy's skull but stopped at the last moment, to Conan's surprise, just to lightly put it on his hairs. "Value your life a bit more, kid..."

Stepping away, he turned to Heiji. "And those guys we fought yesterday, who were they finally ? They didn't look like Takaishi's underlings... They were from the Organization you mentioned, right, Hattori-kun?"

The azure-eyed kid's look was as cold as arctic ice when it laid on the Osakan, understanding that his friend had been too talkative, once again. But it was too late to change anything, so he preferred to stick to the truth. "From what I heard when I was there, they sounded like they were paid from being there.

\- Accordin' ta their practices an' codenames, I'd say they were from the BO, yes." Heiji confirmed, now that he had the child's silent authorization. "She probably hired them ta frame the Organization with our murders...

\- But, since her plan totally screw up, I don't think she'll be able to hire them anymore." Jodie stated with a small smirk. "Our informer in the BO confirmed this morning that she's now on their hit list, that Kummel apparently thinks she betrayed them somehow..."

"Y _ea, I bet, she promised them Kudô and they weren't really happy to get Kogoro and Hattori instead_..." Conan thought, not really surprised of that information, the BO not being the kind to forgive anything.

"- So that's unrelated to your and Kudô's personal guerrilla ?" Kogoro concluded with a look at the dark-skinned teen. "Sorry, I was a bit harsh earlier...

\- Nah, it's ok... Related or not, Nee-chan got attacked because we both stuck our noses where we shouldn' have..." The green-eyed detective admitted with a sigh : knowing the real motive of Takaishi, no way he could say it wasn't partly his and his friend's fault...

"- So, what's next ?" The moustached man wondered after a short silence. "I don't want Ran to be in danger so what ? We hide until she gets arrested ?"

Heiji and Jodie exchanged a look of embarrassment.

"- As we were saying with Hattori-kun before you arrived, there's no warrant.

\- What ?!

\- There isn't any proof..." The small detective reminded his uncle with a bored voice.

"- An' I don' think I can be credible enough in front o' a jury, not if I tell them she messed with my head an' I forgot everythin' durin' a while..." The Osakan deplored with a sigh.

"- We're not going to hide forever..." The older detective firmly refused.

"- Since Takaishi has the Organization on her heels, I don't think she'll be able to act as she wants. Her revenge probably won't be her first priority... " Jodie pointed out, knowing how efficient the BO could be when they were conducting a manhunt. "If you don't want of the protection program, we can still have a slight surveillance at the moment of you and your closest relatives if it is ok to you.

\- At the moment ? It sounds more like forever, if nothing is done." Kogoro commented with a sharp tone.

"- With the information we got thanks to you all, we're going to be able to progress quite smoothly in our investigation. If there's any way to link her to that traffic, we'll find it !

\- Hmm, let me think about it. I need to see with Ran also..." The man stated, starting to envisage this possibility. "Better do this quickly... Coming right back.

\- What about you, Hattori-kun ?" The blond-haired proposed after Ran's father left.

"- No worries, I'll ask Oyaji ta have a few men on the watch fer me an' Kazuha once we're back ta Osaka.

\- Ok. Well, if you excuse me, I've got one or two phone calls to do if we want to solve that case and fast..." The FBI announced with a wink, before getting up to head to the door.


	20. Chapter 20 - Behind the scene

**Hey !**

 **First of all, for those who didn't come yesterday, I published a chapter so please read the chapter 19 first : ) And thanks to those who reviewed extra fast xD**

 **Time to know the truth about that first case... If you courageous enough, have fun re-reading it with this chapter's info, you'll see it with a different point of view, I did let a few hints after all :p**

 **Chapter 21 will be... action ! cliffs ! yea, can't wait to be Wednesday :D**

 **o.O.o**

 **James Birdsong : Thanks : )**

 **Laury Rose : Yea, time for full truths, with just Heiji and Conan talking about the case, and nothing to hide from Jodie and Kogoro ... :p And yea, he's quite gifted at that, that heiji, getting icy glares from conan... Sometimes he should just think before talking xD Haha, yup, saying the truth to Ran would be so hard now... Shin would die xD**

 **SilverQueen08 : I'll do my best : ) I'll sure be reading it but I'm so bad with reviews... Never know what to say ._. That's why I'm always impressed with you guys who can review each chapter ! It feels so great, author's side : )**

* * *

 **Chapter 20 : Behind the scene**

* * *

"- Phew..." Heiji concluded with a yawn.

"- Yea, agree... Looks like they didn't notice the few holes in your story." Conan stated with relief before lying on his back on the bed, arms crossed behind the head.

"- Ne, Kudô... Yer thoughts about the first case ?

\- Well, if our theory about Yoshida Ryo not being the culprit is right...

\- Then she's the one who did the handy work, fer once, right ?" The Osakan proposed, his chin now on his hand, staring into space while thinking back to the case. "So... A first victim, Ishida Ren. Hard blow ta the head an' throat split open. Accordin' ta the position o' that hit, we thought only a man could have attacked him but...

\- Didn't Takaishi mention she prepared a coffee for him ? If she used the same drug than her Russian accomplice, it becomes easy to hit someone as tall as Ishida even if you're small...

\- So she drugged him, waited a bit fer him ta faint, hit his head in a way only a man could have if Ishida had been standin' an' cut his throat with a scalpel she stole ta Shibe... Kami, I hate it when the medics start ta kill people, they're too gifted at it..." The dark-skinned detective sighed with a chill.

\- Yea..." The small boy agreed, also not really fond of how a doctor could so efficiently kill anyone in one shot if he wanted to. "For the second case, Takeno's murder, I think it was quite easier for her to organise... She was already drugged after her breakdown and Takaishi would have clearly enough time to organise all this from the room she was in without us noticing. She just had to steal Yoshida's shoes in the entrance and use them to leave some traces along the pipe. No one would have noticed she had been outside. She probably threw them in a white bag somewhere in the snow, along with the glass cutting material.

\- An' then the self injected drug..." The green eyed teen finished. "We couldn' find any fingerprints on the syringe but if she had her sleeve around it, she just had ta throw it away as she could before faintin' an' we wouldn' have noticed...

\- The final touch was to "help" Yoshida to kill himself... That was perhaps the trickiest, she probably had several ideas to organize that.

\- She could have planned him ta try ta leave with the car but she couldn' have guessed I'd crash it...

\- I don't think she did but she probably already damaged the car, so it would stop after a little while if Yoshida took it... You just stopped it a bit earlier than planned.

\- An' that's why she discouraged yer lot ta go into the blizzard ? Fer ya not ta disturb her... She's been lucky, Kazuha an' I could have still been around Yoshida..." Heiji frowned, a bit startled by the woman's audacity.

"- I bet she had a lot of other scenarios for that... She could have killed you and frame Yoshida for the murders, before his "suicide".

\- I don' like the kind o' things that girl scripts..." The detective of the West complained with a chill, now that he understood that he and Kazuha probably escaped a death closer that they could imagine in their igloo back then. "What was her motive, in yer opinion ?

\- Hmm... I think this might have been the original team, so she couldn't be really picky about her partners. But just look at how Ishida liked to brag, that's really not the kind of things you want in that line of work... She probably thought it was time to start anew, with that new job in Osaka's hospital...

\- Yea... That guy even mentioned Russia, remember how she stopped him halfway ? I bet he never went there on a personal trip, just the 'professional' kind... Just the both o' them, a bag filled with drugs across the shoulder...

\- We'll never know unless she tells herself..." Conan sighed as he finally got up again. "Those are just theories, even if we're right, if there was any proof of what she did in the lodge, I bet there isn't anything left now, she would have made it sure...

\- Clearly... Well, even if it pisses me off not ta be able ta have her arrested fer those murders, we should try ta find a way ta have her drug traffic unveiled...

\- But she'll be extra cautious now, above all with the BO on her heels... Speaking of the BO, why the hell did you tell Kogoro-san about it ?" The azure-eyed boy asked with a flat glare at his best friend.

"- I tried ta avoid the subject but... I had ta give him some information, I didn' want him ta rush in that old abattoir without knowin' the dangers...

\- What did you tell him ?

\- Just that we faced that Organization once or twice, with "Kudô", no more !" The Osakan defended himself, hurt that his friend could imagine he'd say more than needed to his substitute uncle.

"- You sure that's all ?" The small detective insisted with hard eyes.

"- Yea, o' course, I swear !"

Seeing it wasn't enough to soften his friend's expression, the dark-skinned understood there was probably something else the child didn't tell him. "Why the long face ?

\- Kogoro-san acted strange, that's why...

\- Aren' ya overthinkin' it ? We both know he's not really the logical kind sometimes...

\- I'd like it to be that simple but..." The Tokyoite boy paused to ruffle his hairs with boredom. "Crap, I could deal with Ran's suspicions but if Kogoro-san also gets too curious on the subject...

\- Eh, just give him 10 minutes o' yer "Conan-the-child" act an' he'll forget ya again, don' worry..." Heiji tried to reassure his friend with a slap trough his back, a big smile on his face. "He has rarely been able ta see through anythin', why would he start now ?

\- Let's hope... " The small detective sighed before taking his phone out. "But I should prepare one or two guarantees...

\- Who are ya callin' ?

\- Haibara. I won't be able to go back to Hakase's house for a while so I'd need him to give me some spares for my gadgets and I'd like to have some antidote, just in case...

\- Ah, good luck with that..." The dark-skinned smirked, knowing how moody the little scientist could be, above all when Conan mentioned "BO" and "antidote" in the same sentence.

After a grimace that clearly showed his agreement, the boy brought the phone to his ear.

o.O.o

"- Ah, Kogoro-san isn't back yet ?" Jodie wondered when she came in and saw both boys were alone.

"- Not yet..." The azure-eyed child confirmed when he stopped talking with Heiji. "So, anything new ?

\- Yea, some stuff... I wanted to wait for Kogoro-san but well..." She shrugged, apparently too excited by her news to wait. "Aleiev is dead, that's the first news.

\- Aleiev... That Russian who helped Takaishi ?" The Osakan wondered, recognising the name. "Wasn' he in jail ?

\- He was, they found him this morning, he hung himself with the sheet of his bed.

\- Any sign someone "helped" him ?" The small detective asked, a suspicious frown on his face.

"- He was alone and no one came to visit him since he's in jail...

\- But... ?" The dark-skinned inquired, seeing at the blond-haired woman's expression there was something else.

"- ... But he received a call very early this morning, from a woman. It ended quite fast and when they opened the door of his cell, they found him dead...

\- I can' believe she booby-trapped her own men..." Heiji said as he shook his head in disbelief. "An' why kill him now ?

\- Perhaps he knew where she could be headed to ?" Conan proposed, crossing his arms against in chest. "Which would be in favour of the theory she's returning to Russia to hide. She's not really careful, giving us such hints..." He frowned, a bit surprise of her precipitation when all her previous decisions had been quite well-thought-out.

"- And she let another one." Jodie smirked, glad to have good news for once. "The police investigated the place you've been brought in, Cool Kid, and they found some fingerprints in the room you told us you were locked in with her. They're only partial ones but add to that your testimony...

\- It should do the job ! Great news, Jodie-han !" The green eyed teen rejoiced with a big smile.

"- Great news but we don't have Takaishi's, since she had never been arrested..." The woman précised as she darkened a little bit.

"- So we need her prints to prove she's guilty but that's not possible if we don't have her arrested... We're chasing our own tails." The azure-eyed boy concluded with a voice that gave out his frustration.

"- Well, the police needs proofs to edit a warrant but us... If we _accidentally_ meet Takaishi and _accidentally_ arrest her by mistake and _accidentally_ discover her prints match a previous crime... Everyone will be happy, right ?" The blond-haired smiled with a feigned innocence.

"- Haha, I think I'm startin' ta get why the Japanese police isn' read fond o' havin' foreign agents on their ground..." The Osakan laughed embarrassingly at the woman's audacity.

"- You got any hints as to where she's going ?" The bespectacled detective wondered, knowing it was the first step for them to "accidentally" arrest the doctor.

"- We had some hopes in questioning Aleiev but it's a bit too late now... But, as you said, it proves she's very probably heading to Russia and during winter, I don't think she has any other way than the plane.

\- So ya'll be watchin' the airports ? Will it be enough ?

\- I'm still seeing with my men if there's any possibility for her to go to Russia through Hokkaido but it seems really difficult. You're thinking of anything else, Cool Kid ?" Jodie wondered when she saw the boy was lost in his thoughts.

"- Hmm it's just that I feel like she probably prepared different ways to go out of this country : if she was selling drugs, she needed a way to export them when the seas were frozen. And the fact she killed Aleiev proves he knew which one...

\- Ya're thinkin' about a boat ? Some kind o' icebreaker ?" The dark-skinned proposed, this idea popping in his mind when he tried to think about a way to transport goods though the Russian winter.

"- Or a private helicopter, who knows... Or even a sledge ! There are many ways, in fact...

\- Ok, I'll give those hints to my men, this could be useful." The FBI agent concluded, a bit disappointed not to have imagined other ways than the plane to go out of the country.

Feeling his phone was vibrating, Conan had a glimpse to his pocket to see the caller. Haibara Ai.

"- I'll be right back ! Got to...

\- Go ta the toilet ?" Heiji finished with a mocking smile.

"- That's it..." The boy retorted with a flat tone before rushing outside.

o.O.o

A few minutes later, the azure-eyed child was facing a little girl with auburn hair and bored eyes in the hospital hall, just behind the can dispenser of the first floor.

"- You know, each time I wonder how you can be so prone to run into Their legs by accident...

\- I know, sorry..." Conan admitted with a grimace of embarrassment. "But I've got a great scientist to help me during those pinches, right ?" He added with a not really so convincing forced smile but he had to do everything to get the antidote.

"- Flattery doesn't work on me, you should know that..." The scientist pointed out with a little smirk.

"- Was worth a try..." The bespectacled detective smiled. "So ? Will you give some to me ? "

AI looked at the child in front of him with a critical look. She knew he'd probably find a way to end up in an even bigger mess than he was now, with or without the antidote against APTX 4869. And that she would be angry at herself if anything happened and that she hadn't done her best to support him. Giving up, she held her small backpack to him.

"- Use it well..." Haibara advised with a sigh, though she knew it was probably useless, knowing the azure-eyed detective who was in front of her.

"- You know me...

\- Yea, that's why I'm saying this." She retorted with a flat tone.

"- Oy oy... " Conan said with a half outraged grimace.

"- You'll find a box with two pills in the front pocket. Hakase's spare gadgets are in the other one.

\- Thanks.

\- As always, I hope you won't have to use any of those...

\- I'll be extra cautious !" He assured with a confident smile, before thinking with a grimace he started to sound like Hattori with his "I'll be cautious" before throwing himself in the lion's den. "I'll do my best at least."

The girl looked at him with a serious face while he was exchanging his own gadgets by the spares. The detective wasn't in an immediate danger but, from what she understood, a lot of things could go wrong for him if that criminal he was after decided it was funnier to spill information about him to anyone she could come in contact with than to keep it for herself. "Try to give us updates.

\- I will." Conan confirmed with a nod as he finally pocketed the plastic box with the pills. "Sorry, I should go back there...

\- Yea, see you later then.

\- Laters !"

Ai looked at the boy who was running to the elevator, leaving her with the backpack at her feet.

" _Good luck, Kudô-kun..."_ She wished, before grabbing the bag and heading out of the hospital.


	21. Chapter 21 - Fire

**Heya !**

 **And we're back to action ! And cliffs of course :p**

 **o.O.o**

 **emmahoshi : Haha, well, if you find some time, you'll be able to read it again ... ^^ Yea, it was an oldie, for sure : ) But just when you could start to begin suspicious of Hikari, I made Ryo attack Heiji & Kazuha, so you were distracted ; ) Hmm yea, I used the DCW wiki on that one since they have the appellations of all characters to each other... But yea, I think Shin calls Korogo 'kogoro-san' only when he's facing him as Shinichi, not when he speaks of him... oh well, too late to change that *shrugs *:p Yea, she knows him too well xD**

 **Laury Rose : Ah well, yea, it is probably true... But I think I had him use at least one in each of my fics soooo... Why change xD Yea, I wanted her to be a heartless person, glad to read I succeeded ^^**

* * *

 **Chapter 21 - Fire**

* * *

The boy headed to the hospital cafeteria, hoping to find the girls and perhaps Kogoro and it was finally Kazuha who spotted him when he was crossing the main hall.

"- Hey, Conan-kun, over there !" She called him with a wave, inviting him to come with her, Ran and the moustached man.

Annoyed to have become a focus of attention in a room filled with unknown - meaning untrustworthy - people, the small detective quickly ran to her direction.

"- Ya were with Heiji ? Can I go there finally ?

\- Yes, you can go to his room now, it's the number 1810.

\- It's fun, it sounds like Hattori if ya remove the first "1" !" The girl snorted with a voice a bit too loud to the bespectacled child's opinion who threw a suspicious look around him to be sure no one was too focused on him. "I'll be heading there then, see ya later Ran-chan !

\- Yea ! Uh, who is this..." The long-haired girl wondered as she felt her phone was vibrating in her bag.

"- Ah, Sonoko ?

\- Ran, are you alright ? Kudô-kun called me last night, he was saying he couldn't contact you so when I saw you weren't at school this morning, I got worried... "

 _"My bad..."_ Conan thought with a small grimace of embarrassment when he recognised Sonoko at the other side of the line, guessing at her tone he probably worried her a bit the previous night about her best friend.

"- I'm ok, everything's alright. I'll explain it to you later, it's a bit complicated..." Ran admitted with a look at her father as she remembered the conversation they just had about needing some protection for a while, hoping this "while" wouldn't turn into months... or years. "Could you warn the teachers though ? My father will call..."

The azure-eyed kid's attention's, focused at the moment on Ran, got caught by one of the men in the hall, who was getting up, glancing here and there, a hand in his vest, vest which had a kind of bump under the armpit, just like...

" _A weapon ?!"_ Conan wondered with startled eyes.

As both Kogoro and Ran weren't looking at him, the small detective, feeling this man was up to no good, sneaked up behind him, getting his watch ready just in case.

After a few turns, they ended in a corridor, with lots of doors giving into patients' rooms, and the man finally chose one half opened and entered. The kid came as close as possible, to see the one he was following had a gun with a silencer in the hand, confirming his theory as to what was the bulge of his jacket. He saw him opening one of the gas valves and had just enough time to take shelter in the nearest room when the man stepped back and finally shoot a silent bullet towards the valve he just touched.

If the small detective still doubted about what were the man's intentions, it became clear when he smashed the fire alarm just outside the room he just left.

 _"What the hell..."_ He swore in his mind, though he perfectly knew what was happening. When you were looking for someone in a hospital, having everyone evacuate with a fire alarm was a good way to find him. " _What are those guys..."_

His answer wasn't long to come when two other men arrived to met the first one.

"- You found them ?

\- Yea, that Mouri and his children are in the main hall, what an idiot... Hattori should be room 1810, a girl with Mouri was almost yelling it earlier...

\- Ok, well done." The third man congratulated the other, a tall brown-haired middle aged man with hard eyes, probably their boss, Conan deduced when he saw him taking a walkie-talkie to communicate with some other men. "Team B, head room 1810. Team C, stand by outside, some of the targets are close to the exits so be careful, you know what to do if you see them... Ok, let's go !" He ordered after switching his talkie off.

The bespectacled boy froze at those orders, barely looking at them going away. His paranoid side had been whispering him these guys could belong to Hikari's group or the BO and have come for him, Hattori and Kogoro, but to find out this was the truth had nothing comforting... Ran, her father, Hattori and Kazuha were in danger but what could he do against three teams heavily armed ...?

Trying to ignore his pessimistic thoughts, the azure-eyed focused on his most urgent task, warn them.

Stepping a bit deeper in the room, he took his phone out.

"- Ran-neechan ! Tell Kogoro-jiisan to stay inside, it's a fake alarm, it's the guys who are after us who planned this, they're waiting for us outside !

\- Conan-kun ? Just how...

\- I just know ! Try to reach the East emergency staircase, you have to warn Hat..."

Feeling a hand on his shoulder, the small detective jumped and let his phone fall on the floor.

"- Oh dear, we're in trouble... " The man smirked, a man with the exact same clothes than the other three he already saw.

"- Really ?" He tried with his best childish and innocent face.

"- Really..."

And the last thing he remembered was a fist against the side of his head.

o.O.o

"- Heiji !" Kazuha said with a loud voice as she slammed the room 1810's door.

"- ... Yea ?" The Osakan answered as soon as his body allowed him to after being brutally taken out of his daydream after such an entrance from his childhood friend.

"- Will I get a proper explanation now ? Hikari-san is really after ya and Kogoro-san ? That's what Ran-chan said but...

\- That's it." He confirmed as he turned around to face her, still sitting on his bed.

"- But she's a doctor, doctors save lives ! " The pony-tailed girl retorted, still not able to imagine such a kind looking woman being a cold-blood murderer.

"- There are some kinds o' criminals who look like they couldn' hurt a fly. An' those are often the worst..." The dark-skinned explained with a sigh as he got up. "Nee-chan hasn' been hurt but that was a miracle : as soon as that doc' wouldn' need her anymore, she would have killed her without thinkin' twice... We would have faced the same fate if she found us when we were lost in the blizzard durin' that case at the lodge... "

Kazuha put her hand in front of her mouth, horrified at the idea her friend escaped such a dangerous situation safe and sound. But also due to the shock of realising that, while she had been willing to trust that girl during their trip in the mountain, she was instead the mastermind of those horrible murders.

"- Come on, cheer up, we'll get a break from school, won' complain !" Heiji tried to joke at the girl's depressed face.

"- Yea..." She agreed with a little smile.

Seeing she was better, the Osakan bent to grab his bag before finally changing his mind and turning to face the girl.

"- Kazuha..." He started, with a serious face.

"- Hai ?

\- If I ever start ta act strangely, please knock me down with yer Aikido.

\- What nonsense are ya spurting, Ahou ?" The ponytailed girl chuckled before meeting a pair of very serious green eyes.

"- Please." The detective of the West insisted as he grabbed her shoulders, his look still in hers.

"- Uhhh ok..." She finally agreed with a nod as she tried to hide the blush on her face from being so close to the dark-skinned.

"- Thanks, yer the best ! " He smiled as he let her go.

That smile faded as they both heard the fire alarm and looked at each other, a bit startled as to what to do next.

"-We should leave, this could be dangerous..." Kazuha finally proposed, feeling it was a bit unnatural to stay there when there could be a raging fire just under their feet.

"- But it's also dangerous fer us ta go outside..." The Osakan pointed out with a frown, knowing they'd be like sitting ducks if Hikari's group discovered their hideout. "I'm callin' Jodie-han."

The green-eyed girl looked at him as he dialled the FBI agent's number and exchanged a few words with her.

"- Apparently, the alarm has been triggered near the main hall... " Heiji explained after hanging up. "Since it's pretty far away, she advises ta stay here a little bit, time for her ta see what happened... So we'll wait fer a bit, ok ? "

The girl nodded, a bit afraid, but comforted by her friend's assurance. He knew what he was doing, she was sure of it.

Well, at least she hoped, because that face the green-eyed had after a metallic noise echoed in the hallway wasn't reassuring at all.

"- Crap... " He swore with a low voice when he saw some smoke was coming from the hallway before jumping to open the window. "Come, we need ta hide !"

Grabbing his childhood friend's arm, he forced her to go under the bed and squeezed himself as he could next to her so the both of them could fit.

"- But we need ta run, this smoke, it's the fire !" The girl whispered with a pinch of panic in her voice.

"- If only... Shoo now ! " He ordered, grabbing her against him, his hand on her mouth when he saw she was going to retort.

It was when a pair of feet appeared at the door that the dark-skinned noticed with irritation his bag was still in the middle of the room, but it was clearly too late, he could only cross his fingers now and hope their opponent wouldn't notice it or deduce they were close.

"- Think he already left ? " The detective of the West heard when a second pair of shoes appeared.

"- But we didn't meet that girl I saw I the hall... Ah, look at that bag, it's probably his, they shouldn't be far away ! "

Both men fell silent at his remark and one of them slowly started to move around the room. Heiji felt the girl against him was shaking with fear when he started to walk around the bed but luckily for them, she was able to keep herself from letting any noise out.

Feeling the man was now on the other side of the bed, just on the same side that he was, the Osakan hesitated an instant in attacking him but his opponent didn't give him any choice : by his feet's position, he was going to crouch to look under the bed.

The dark-skinned let Kazuha go and turned slowly on himself to welcome the man's face with a strong kick before throwing himself out of his hideout to attack him.

The man, a bit dizzy after this blow, was now on his bottom and had let go of his weapon, to the green-eyed teen's relief.

But that fight wasn't far from over, he understood it with a grunt when the man threw his foot across his chest, taking his breath out as a spike of pure pain went through his wounded side. Though Heiji wasn't going to give up, not with Kazuha just there, he had to win ! He forced his body to move again and slammed as he could a metallic tray that was on his nightstand and just at his reach against the man's head. This seemed pretty efficient as his eyes rolled back a second, leaving him half knocked-out.

But on the other side, his partner, seeing the teen was starting to have the advantage, was now grabbing his gun, the ponytailed girl could see it from where she was, and that would mean he was going to hurt Heiji, something she'd never let happen, not on her guard.

"- Stop right here !" She ordered as she rolled from under the bed to run to the man.

Her opponent looked at her with disbelief, hesitating a second, but not really long, not with a pretty furious girl rushing at him with a menacing growl.

After one last hit across his enemy's face, the dark-skinned turned his head to the entrance, barely able to see Kazuha's and the second man's heads. But he was able to see his gun, that nasty gun that was pointed at the girl he loved.

"- KAZUHA ! " The Osakan yelled when he heard the gunshot.


	22. Chapter 22 - Reunion

**Hey there !**

 **Where were we already ? Ah, right, cliff, hospital, gunshots, attacks from behind... What a mess ... ; )**

 **The fight goes on in this chapter ! : )**

 **o.O.o**

 **emmahoshi : well, the chapters are always ready beforehand, it's just that I was usually posting them in the evening... But it meant having the chapter the following day for some readers like you so now, when I can, I publish sooner : ) Yup, no break for our heroes, having to hide or not, Hikari decided she wanted to get rid of them :p Hmm for the controlling thingie... I won't spoil you, you'll see : p**

 **Laury Rose : Maa, she's not as hot blooded than Heiji but she can sometimes have some rash decisions ^^ Well, I think it's a bit her fault but if the guys stopped with their secrets and told the girls the truth, not a sugar-coated one, she would have known they had to be extra cautious...**

 **SilverQueen08 : Haha, you're never late for a review ; ) Congrats on your first publication here also : )**

* * *

 **Chapter 22 : Reunion**

* * *

When Conan opened his eyes, it took him a few instants to understand why he was cramped in a dark place with ringing ears. And then he tried to jump on his feet, to regret it immediately when his head hit a metallic shelf, bringing tears of pain in his eyes.

If there was anything positive to the fact the almost split his head in two with that shelf, it was that he finally remembered everything.

The bad guys who hit the fire alarm. The one he didn't see who knocked him down. And at least three teams in the hospital, whose goal was to find Hattori and Mouri, and probably not for a simple chat.

Not being able to stand the idea Ran could be caught in all that mess, he tried to look at his surroundings, guessing he was in some kind of metallic locker.

The azure-eyed child tried to make it move, but without any success, not with a less than 20 kg body.

With a frustrated groan, he facepalmed. How could he have been so careless ? He was now locked when Ran was in danger, Hattori also, Kogoro also...

With rage, the small detective kicked the door, which didn't help at all and wasn't even satisfying. Even with the noise and his yells for help, no one came. Though it was no wonder, he probably hadn't been out a while and the hospital had been evacuated due to the alarm.

 _"_ _Crap..."_ He swore, clenching his fists with a grimace of frustration. _"I need to warn them..."_

Remembering suddenly his phone, he searched his pockets but of course, it was nowhere to be found, since the man knocked him down while he had it in the hand, no way he'd have been nice enough to put it back in his pocket...

But he found something else in his pockets.

Conan wasn't planning to use that so soon but he didn't feel like he had any choice. With a higher weight, he could try to push the door with his feet and that would probably be enough to break it open.

With a slightly trembling hand, he opened the plastic box and brought one of the little pills to his lips.

And waited for the fit to come.

o.O.o

"- KAZUHA ! " The Osakan yelled when he heard the gunshot.

Heiji jumped on his feet, almost sliding on the floor with the precipitation, to see the ponytailed girl was on the floor but not exactly as he feared : she was holding her aggressor's arm in an angle that had nothing natural, meaning his shoulder was probably dislocated, though it seemed a bit useless as the man looked pretty much unconscious.

"- Are ya ok ?!" He asked as she got up when she realized the man wasn't moving anymore, looking at her, from toes to head.

"- Of course ! And ya, are ... ?"

But she couldn't finish her question as the dark-skinned took her in his arms.

"- Ahou, those guys are pro, ya could have been killed...

\- Same fer ya so don't scold me fer it !" Kazuha smiled, enjoying Heiji's warm in this unexpected hug.

"- That's the man's duty to protect the girls.

\- Ah ?" The ponytailed girl wondered as she looked up at him with a malicious smirk. "Since when did you notice I was a girl ?

\- Ahou..." The detective of the West replied, before blushing when he noticed their faces were so close so he stepped back from her. "Come on, better move, we need ta get out o' here..."

o.O.o

"- Ran, behind you !"

The girl almost ignored the warning, too surprised to hear that voice when she wasn't expecting at all, unable to believe her ears, but her body moved by itself and her foot hit the man who was rushing at her just under his chin.

"- Shinichi ?!" She recognized, still gaping with the surprise.

"- Hi Ran. Kogoro-san." The azure-eyed panted, a slight smile on his lips.

The detective had been running like mad after he managed to force the door of his locker with his teen body. He knew he hadn't been long, he had been lucky enough to be able to say conscious during his change but every second could be the last of some dear to him, he couldn't afford to lose any.

Out of breath and exhausted, Shinichi had found the father and the daughter just in front of the door of the East staircase, where he had advised them to go as Conan. He was now wondering if all this rush was needed while his eyes laid on the two knocked out men who were at the Mouris' feet, another proof, if any was needed, that it wasn't a good idea to mess with either of them.

"- What's that outfit ? " The Tokyoite girl snorted when she came closer and noticed the teen was wearing the same clothes than every patient in the hospital. "You were in that hospital ?" She frowned, not really getting why he'd wear those.

"- Nah, my clothes were dirty, I had to do with what I found..." He answered with embarrassment, trying to make up some excuse, knowing he wasn't looking his best in the light pyjamas he found in one of the drawers of the room he was locked in. "Have you seen Hattori ? Some of those guys are after him too..." The young detective explained as he tried to stop a chill and rubbed his shoulders.

"- No, we didn't... He should be upstairs, with Kazuha. And you, have you seen Conan ?" Ran asked with concern. "He told us to come here but I'm afraid something happened, he doesn't answer his phone anymore...

\- It's ok, he was alright, I saw him leaving the hospital, he's probably hiding somewhere outside..." The detective of the East made up, making a mental note to himself to call Ran with his voice-changer bowtie as soon as he'd be able to, but he needed a phone for that...

"- Here !" Kogoro abruptly interrupted them, holding a vest to Shinichi, a vest a stole to one of their aggressors after he tied their hands. "You need it more than him.

\- Thanks." The azure-eyed said as he put the vest with gratitude, starting to be frozen, with his thin cotton shirt and his feet on the icy-cold tiles of the floor.

"- You hurt your face ?" The moustache man asked with a sign of the head towards the scratch on the teen's chin.

The one Kummel did to him as Conan, just in front of Kogoro...

"- Ah, eh, yea... Ran, could you lend me your phone?" He asked, looking at the girl to escape to the suspicious eyes of the old detective, but also because he was really worried for his best friend.

"- Sure."

o.O.o

The dark-skinned teen had a quick glimpse into the corridor, trying to see if anything was blocking their way to the exit. And indeed, as he saw the guards near the elevator were surrounded by a kind of cloud, he understood it wouldn't be that easy.

"- Crap, those guys look pretty organized..." He concluded as he slightly closed the door, sweat-droping.

"- What's the matter ?" Kazuha wondered at his concerned face.

"- They used some sleepin' bombs I think... Could ya check if they have any gas mask on them ?"

The girl, after a nod of agreement, was now bending on the closest man, the one she knocked out, and, after a few instants, she indeed found a small mask.

"- Great, let's hope his friend has one too..." The Osakan wished when he saw what his childhood friend was holding. "Uh, who's that..." He wondered when he felt his phone vibrating while he was stepping towards the second man.

"- Yea ?

\- You good ?

-... Ku... Kudô ?!" Heiji exclaimed, recognising the voice of his best friend, his teenage voice. "But how ...?

\- I'll explain it later. Are you ok ? Kazuha is with you ?

\- Yea, we had two unexpected guests but they're havin' a nap right now... On yer side ?

\- Ran and her father got one point each..." Shinichi smirked with a look at the two men on the floor. "You still in your room ?

\- Yea.

\- We're coming to you then.

\- Nah, not a good idea..." The Osakan stopped him. "There's some sleepin' gas left in the hallways, ya wouldn' want ta fall asleep with those guys around...

\- Crap... Explains why the sprinklers didn't work, I bet they deactivated them so they could use their gas...

\- Prob'ly. Where are ya ? Those guys had masks, we'll take them an' come ta meet ya.

\- East stairs. We'll be waiting at your floor then.

\- Got it !

\- Be careful..." Shinichi advised, before remembering in what kind of mess his best friend ended last time he asked him to, wishing that it would bring him more luck than it had before.

"- Kudô-kun is here ? " Kazuha wondered, having only one side of the conversation.

"- Yea... Put that mask on yer face, we'll meet him an' the lot in one o' the staircases..." The dark-skinned explained as he bent to retrieve the mask of the second man.

But barely halfway, he had to stop to take a deep breath, feeling his wound was hurting more than ever since that man hit him and, indeed, when he lifted a bit his shirt to have a look at his bandages, he could see that it was bleeding again.

Seeing he stopped a second, the ponytailed girl came closer to face him. "Heiji ?

\- Yea ? Need help ?" The detective of the West asked to change the subject, forcing himself to bring a smile on his face.

"- I..." The girl indeed noticed she had never put such a mask on her face and didn't even know by which side to start.

"- Come here !"

With delicacy, the Osakan put the mask he just retrieved on her face, trying not to get her hair in the rubber strap.

"- Thanks..." She said with a muffled voice, looking down to try to hide her blush, before holding the mask in her hands to him.

"- Thanks ! Ok, let's go !" Heiji stated after he put the protection on his face.

After he opened the door once again, the detective grabbed Kazuha's hand to drag her in the hallways behind him, luckily not meeting anyone.

"- Phew..." The dark-skinned sighed as he removed his mask once the both of them entered the East staircases and closed the door behind them. "What the hell... Any idea o' who's attackin' us ?

\- Very probably Takaishi." Shinichi confirmed with a dark face. "I heard those guys downstairs saying they were after you and Kogoro-san.

\- Can' that girl find herself a boyfriend or whatever... This turns more ta obsession than ta grudge..." The green-eyed complained, a bored expression on the face.

"- But that could mean she's around ? " The older detective wondered with hope, knowing catching the girl was the fastest way for Ran and him to go back to their lives and to avoid unnecessary risks.

"- She never does the dirty work, remember ? " The Osakan pointed out, not as optimistic as the moustached man.

"- But those men could know, right ? " Ran asked after she helped Kazuha to remove her mask.

"- Perhaps their boss knows but..." The azure-eyed teen started before shaking his head. "From what I heard, they're three teams, of four probably, and we only neutralized four men... We're just not enough to face them."

"- They're probably close, get the sleeping cans ready !" They heard from the hallways, though it seemed not too close.

"- Crap, they prob'ly found the guys we knocked down..." The detective of the West swore with a grimace.

Shinichi had a quick glimpse at the door's little window and looked at the group with a concerned face. "They're heading there...

\- Ok, I'll lure them upstairs and you all just go downstairs and hide." Kogoro ordered with a firm voice.

"- But..." Ran tried to interfere, worried about her father with all those armed men around.

"- They're after me, I'm not going to endanger you all !

\- Not just ya." Heiji intervened with a determined face. "I'm comin'.

\- Me too.

\- Oy, oy, if we all go there, this has no sense at all..." The moustached man dully concluded when he heard Shinichi also volunteered.

"- Come on, we have no time ta discuss, the girls will go down an' we'll lure those guys upstairs. Kazuha, give me yer mask, we could need it.

\- Shinichi !" Ran called when she saw he was stepping to the next stairs.

She approached him and grabbed his hand to put something in it.

Looking at what was in his palm, the azure-eyed teen recognized the lucky charm, red and gold, she bought at the Meiji Jingû.

"- Apparently, this one works..." She smiled, before looking into his eyes. "Be careful, Shinichi.

\- I will. Thanks. Now run, the both of you !" He ordered.

His look remained on the girls until they were out of sight and he turned to the two others detectives.

"- Let's do this."


	23. Chapter 23 - No time to breathe

**Yop !**

 **Already time for a new chapter, this goes fast, look at how far we're in the story : )**

 **So, let's see how our males do against Hikari's - or someone else's ? - team... Is she here? Or not ? More action in this chapter ! : )**

 **o.O.o**

 **emmahoshi : Maa we'll see, we'll see... ; ) Was good for once to have a not that stupid Kogoro ˆˆ Haha, don't worry, it's already nice from you to review each chapter : )**

 **SilverQueen08 : Yea, in fact I went on Wattpad to look at it (though quite quickly, I really hate how WP works ˆˆ;;;) I'll be looking at it on FF now : ) Haha, thanks : ) I like twists and I like the girls being bad ass so... here it was : )**

* * *

 **Chapter 23 : No time to breathe**

* * *

Heiji looked up to check on his two companions, making sure they were ready.

"- Mouri-han, up here ! " He yelled at their nods, trying to be as natural as possible, in the kind of loud whispers he was so prone to spurt out.

"- You baka, you'll lure them here !" Kogoro retorted in a fake angry voice.

The Osakan stepped on the stairs as loudly as he could to meet the two others detectives, with concerned glimpses behind him almost every second, expecting their pursuers to open the staircase's door at any moment.

And indeed...

"- They're here !" A man suddenly spurted after he kicked the door open, recognising his two targets among the three in front of him.

Without even looking at each other, the detectives rushed in the same movement, not really wanting to wait for the man to realise he had a weapon in the hand and that they would make pretty easy targets at that distance.

Their first goal, well, perhaps second after not being killed, was to try to put as much distance between the girls and the remaining guys, to be sure they wouldn't get hurt, so they were climbing the stairs steadily but not too fast, careful to keep their pursuers in sight

"- Let's try this door !" Shinichi finally decided, pushing the door he just reached, after he saw they were already reaching the 12th floor when the roof was just above the 13th.

His two partners followed him without any comment in the empty hallways, entering after him into a little room with a panel "Service - No entry" on the door.

"- Ok... We should try to catch our breaths a bit..." The Tokyoite proposed, being himself heavily panting, his body not really appreciating being pushed so far just after a change.

Heiji and Kogoro weren't looking any better as they let themselves slide on the floor among the brooms and other cleaning products, one because he was a heavy smoker so exercises weren't his strong suit , the other because he hurt himself barely 12 hours before and wasn't ready yet for this kind of run.

"- Ya think we managed ta keep them away from the girls ?" The Osakan finally whispered.

"- I hope..." The azure-eyed teen wished as he swept some sweat coming off the side of his face, before grimacing when he rubbed his recent cut on the chin.

"- You're him, right ?" The moustached man bluntly asked, piercing eyes laying on Shinichi's face.

"- Uh, what ?" The detective answered, before realising what his uncle-substitute could be referring to, remembering all those side looks he had been gaving him since they came back from the abattoir.

"- The strange behaviour... The maturity, the reasoning... And that scratch looking exactly the same than the one Conan got from that Kummel. You even got the same watch !" He concluded, getting up to grab the teen's wrist to bring his watch in front of his eyes.

"- Oy, oy..." Heiji sweat-dropped when he saw the man was stepping a bit too close of his friend's secret. Damn, he would have wanted his friend to share his secret a bit more but he never wished for Kogoro to know, he'd just kill him...

His dark thoughts were interrupted by someone slamming the door open with his foot.

By some reflex probably coming from his former policeman training, the older detective, still on his feet, threw himself at the man at the door and, after a pretty well executed Judo move, knocked his opponent on the ground.

But the man wasn't alone, that, Kogoro noticed a bit too late, being too far to do anything against the weapon now pointing at him.

Seeing Ran's father was in danger, the dark-skinned teen, who had also got up, grabbed a nearby broom to smash it against the agent's hand and once again against his face. The pained cry when the man fell and the two cracking noises leaved very little doubt as to the fact both his wrist and his jaw had been fractured.

"- Down !" Shinichi's voice ordered when he saw a third aggressor appeared.

The two detectives had barely enough time to jump aside when a bucket flied above them and ended right into the last man's face, sending him to the floor.

After this kick, the azure-eyed stepped out of the room to have a quick glimpse in the hallway to be sure they were once again alone.

"- Are you two alright ?" He asked to his two friends who were still on the floor before holding his hand to Heiji who was the closest.

"- Yea... Nice shot..." The green-eyed grinned, having almost forgotten his best friend's powerful kicks as Kudô, since he was always using his shoes as Conan.

"- I'm good too and I'd say that's a miracle..." The moustached man said as he shook his head, happy they won this fight but still not understanding how a man and two teens without any weapon could knock out three men heavily armed...

"- So... Obviously there are still some guys remainin', right ? Somethin' like five accordin' ta what ya said, Kudô ?

\- Exactly."

The three detectives froze as this last statement wasn't coming from Shinichi but from another voice, much deeper, and much more threatening. The voice of the one who had knocked him out as Conan, the Tokyoite teen remembered...

"- Our little game of hide and seek is over, gents." The man added. "I want to see your hands."

The azure-eyed teen, seeing there wasn't much to do against the man's orders, not when he had four accomplices behind him with guns pointed at them, obeyed, keeping nevertheless a defying face.

His two friends also obeyed, clearly not willingly but they had no choice, not yet, they had to obey to, at least for now, and wait for their chance to come... If it came one day.

"- Hattori and Mouri..." The black-haired man in front of them smirked when he recognized his two targets. "Miss Takaishi Hikari would like to give you her best regards. And her best wishes for your new life, in the other world..." He finished as he raised his weapon, still looking amused.

Heiji and Shinichi sweat-dropped : they were stuck in that corridor, with nowhere to hide and a dead-end behind them. Even if they managed to avoid getting killed by this firing squad, it wouldn't last long.

"- Get down !" A new voice ordered with urge, catching the armed men's attention pretty efficiently.

The three detectives obeyed without thinking twice, all glad for that intervention, from whoever it was coming from.

And it had been a good idea to act fast as a shootout began, forcing them to put their hands above their heads in a feeble attempt to protect themselves.

The Osakan finally opened an eye to look at the scene. The ones who had came to help, he could see it now though he already had a good guess, were the FBI : four of them, including Jodie and Jake.

He wasn't able to see Jake anymore but he knew he was here, having recognized his voice in the warning. He was probably among the two on the floor on the federal agents' side, he just hoped he wasn't too heavily wounded.

The other group was quite diminished also, with two men on the floor and another trying to use the wall to stand but not looking down. Their superiority in number was long gone and apparently one guy, the dark-haired one who had been doing the chatting, realized it as he was already heading to the nearest stairs, soon followed by his last man.

"- Stop !" Jodie ordered, her weapon pointed at the two.

Seeing they weren't ready to obey her, she tried to shoot at the dark-haired man, the group's boss, she knew it, as he had bragged about it when they met in the hallways earlier and he had hurt her ear with a bullet.

But the man, apparently ready to do anything to save his life, used his accomplice as a shield and threw two cans of gas towards the agents.

"- Don' breathe this, it'll make ya sleep !" Heiji warned when he saw the blond-haired was stepping to the stairs, recognizing the fumes of the gas they used near his hospital room.

"- But we need to catch that one, he's their boss, he probably knows where is Takaishi !" The FBI agent insisted as she stopped.

"- We got what we need !" The Osakan assured, getting the two gas masks he had in his pockets out. "Take this one, Kudô." He said as he held the second one to his friend.

"- I got one already, in the vest." The azure-eyed stated as he got his own out, having checked what was in his jacket just after he put it.

"- Then it'll be mine." Kogoro concluded as he grabbed the mask from the dark-skinned teen's hands, not really letting him much choice.

"- Take this at least !" Jodie advised, pushing her weapon on the floor to their direction.

The moustached man bent to take the gun that had stopped just near his feet and squeezed its handle with determination as he got up.

"- Let's go !" He ordered when he saw the two teens had their mask on their face.

o.O.o

A frozen gale was the first thing that welcomed Shinichi when he stepped outside. And a bullet was the second one but Kogoro, having seen that one coming, forced his head down and shot at the dark-haired while the three of them took cover behind an air vent and removed their mask to have a war council.

"- Crap, they got a helicopter..." Heiji swore when he saw their opponent was standing near of one and, despite the markings that made it look like a proper hospital vehicle, the shape was clearly the one of a large military helicopter, indicating this was very probably how they could invade this hospital that easily.

"- We need to get on board and let him flee..." The Tokyoite concluded after his uncle-substitute shot his second bullet at the man.

"- Whaaat ?!" Kogoro spurted with startle, looking at the teen as if he was crazy.

"- Yea, good idea..." The green-eyed added with a determined face. "But the question is how ta get on board...

\- Did you two lose your mind ?" The older detective hissed when he saw they were really thinking about their plan.

"- He's very probably going to where Takaishi is..." Shinichi explained patiently. "We need to, that's perhaps our only chance to find her ! You don't want to hide all your life, I tell you...

\- This is so crazy ..." The moustached man was still saying as he shook his head.

"- Decide now, before he leaves ! " Heiji ordered with a firm voice, seeing the man was pretty close of the helicopter's door now.

"- Raaah, ok ! What do I need to do ?

\- Run to the left and try to catch his attention, we'll sneak on the other side..." The azure-eyed proposed.

"- You both better not to get killed..." The man grumbled, before proceeding as decided. "Hey ugly head ! Trying to flee ? Aren't you supposed to kill me ? You Boss won't be happy if you come back with your tail between your legs, with a whole team killed and none of your targets caught !

\- He's good..." The Osakan observed when he heard the offended grunt of their opponent as he rushed towards the older detective.

"- I just hope he won't get killed..." Shinichi said, his teeth clenched with concern.

The boys managed to hop in by the side that wasn't in the dark-haired man's sight and quickly noticed some furniture hidden under a cloth that would make a proper hideout.

"- An' now, how ta stop that fight..." Heiji sighed when he looked at the window and saw the moustached man seemed in difficulty.

The Tokyoite was quickly looking for his voice changer bowtie when he saw his friend's face was paling.

"- What ?

\- He's in a pinch, we need ta distract that guy an' now !"

Knowing Heiji's standards as to what a 'pinch' was, Shinichi also turned as white as a sheet but he managed to keep control and slightly opened the helicopter door to use his bowtie.

"- Guys, I heard some gunshots, they're just here !" He yelled with Jodie's voice.

"- Ok, get ready !" Jake's voice this time.

"- Roger !

\- Roger !"

With two other voices.

Their opponent hesitated a bit, he knew he shot down Mouri but he didn't kill him and and his target was just there, just behind that air vent but...

He bit his lip and turned to the helicopter : he would take too many risks, alone against four professional.

"- He's comin' back, we need ta hide !" The Osakan warned his friend, grabbing his arm to drag him to the hideout they noticed earlier.

They were barely finishing hiding properly when the door slammed open and the engine started, almost in the same second.

They were taking off, the only problem was to know where.


	24. Chapter 24 - Ice-breaker

**Heya !**

 **And here's the chapter of the day, where our boys just go explore a new destination and find themselves a new friend... or not ? xD**

 **Let's enter in the last stage of this fic ! : ) (last stage but there are still some chapters remaining, don't worry ; ) )**

 **o.O.o**

 **SilverQueen08 : yep, What's the use of having black belt gf if they don't kick ass... And look at Gosho who just writes paranormal chapters with those two so they're too afraid too move *sighs*** **Maa, I tend to put some humour in the darkest situations... That's a bit of my trade mark^^ Oh, great if I can help you with you homework and good luck with it ! : ). Haha, I wanted some interactions with Kogoro in this fic and it ended like that, though I wasn't planning it at the beginning... But it's fun ^^**

 **Laury Rose : Oh, don't worry, I know how it is ^^ *hands a hanky* Ah, I wasn't going to hurt Kazuha ! She's strong too, I bet she could be like ran and avoid bullets xD Yea, I think Ai should stop giving him pills, because seconds after he finds a reason to use it :p As to the chapter 23, yup, we'll be back to action, until the end of this fic that is in fact ^^ Ah, you'll have some news from Kogoro-chan in this chapter : ) Hé, that's perhaps their only chance to find Takaishi, they had to grab it else she could be lurking in their back during years, so yea, they're careless... Hope for them they won't reach the 24h limit, yea^^;;**

 **emmahoshi : I know, I know, but as I told you, I like those 'live-reaction' reviews of yours :3 Well, Mouri was also hunted by those guys, so it had at least to be Heiji/kogoro on one side, the girls to the other. Hmm let's see in a few chapters if Kogoro forgot that... or not :p And more explanations about that man in this chapter. but yea, he has bad guy high standards, with his helicopter xD We'll be indeed reaching the last stage of this story, sorry ^^; It will be 28 chapters long (28th being the epilogue, so the 'end' is more the 27th). Meaning in two weeks it'll be over... Time flies !**

 **Boogum : Yup, back to old good action, after all those mysteries and explanations : ) As I said, I wasn't really planning for Kogoro to find out Conan's ID but I wanted him to be a bit smarter than usual... Let's see how our favourite detective finds a way out of this mess xD**

* * *

 **Chapter 24 : Ice-breaker**

* * *

Shinichi had a short glimpse at their driver to check if he was alone and let the cover slowly go down. They apparently hadn't been noticed and the man was going wherever he was supposed to, unaware of his stowaways.

"- Hattori, Kogoro-san... How bad ... ?" He finally asked, knowing there was almost no chance the black-haired man would hear them, not in the engine noise and with his helmet on the head, unable to wait any longer, a knot in his stomach as he thought of the old man.

"- Hey, he's good, Kudô." Heiji affirmed with an encouraging smile. "He hit him in the shoulder, so nothin' life threatenin'. An', with the FBI around, I bet someone found him already. An' with all those doctors in the buildin', no way he'd be at risk, right ?

\- Yea..." The detective of the East agreed, not really happy to hear his uncle-substitute got shot but relaxing a little bit to know his life probably wasn't in immediate danger. Remembering his friend had been hurt just a while ago, he frowned as he looked at him closely in the faint light going through their cover and saw at the sweat along his face he didn't look that good. "Hey, you ok ?"

\- I don' think my stitches appreciated our last stunts..." He admitted with a smile of embarrassment.

"- You should have stayed back there...

\- An' let ya have all the fun by yerself ? No way !" The Osakan grinned maliciously.

"- Baka..." The azure-eyed concluded, rolling his eyes at his best friend's boldness.

They both fell silent a little while, lost in their thoughts, before the dark-skinned decided to voice the question that disturbed his the most.

"- But how the hell did they find us once again ...?"

"- I wonder..." Shinichi answered, though his intense look on Heiji was indicating he already had an idea.

"- What ?

\- You sure you're not missing a few minutes in your day ?

\- What ?!" The green-eyed retorted with an outraged voice.

"- Voice. Down.

\- Sorry... But I'd know ! I know everythin' isn' solved but I noticed last time she tried ta manipulate me !

\- There's only one way to know..." The Tokyoite concluded, with a sign of the chin towards the Osakan's pocket.

"- Come on..." The other ranted as he got his phone out to check his history.

At his face, the azure-eyed teen knew he guessed right, and the detective of the West confirmed it when he threw him his phone with a disgusted face.

"- Apparently I answered a call just before Jodie-han came ta my room this mornin'... But I didn' even notice..." Heiji deplored as he face-palmed. "When will that damn thin' stop ? I can' betray everyone without even knowin' it !

\- Hey, hold on !" Shinichi said as he gently patted his shoulder. "There's nothing surprising in the fact you couldn't do anything... You were tired, hurt, this wasn't an equal fight."

His only answer was a bitter grimace, clearly, the Osakan wasn't convinced.

"- Get yourself some rest, I'll be watching." He finally proposed.

o.O.o

The dark-skinned teen had dozed off a bit, unwillingly, and it was his friend who woke him up when they arrived. His azure-eyes were laying on him, as to check what his current mood was.

"- I'm good." He answered to that unsaid question. He had to, he couldn't just give up to self-reproach when they were tailing someone and could be discovered at any second.

"- Let's go out then, I think we're at our final destination, Takaishi's man is already out." Shinichi informed him as he lifted the cover that was above their heads and got up.

"- Any idea o' where we are ? " Heiji wondered as he took the hand his friend hold to him to get up. "An' just how long did we fly..." He added when he felt his whole body was aching when he got up.

"- A bit less than four hours I think. And we're in a harbour, probably in the North, by the snow on the deck. As to know which..."

Both headed to the passenger's door to try to go out discreetly in case their driver would still be watching his vehicle but he was nowhere in sight. In fact, no one was in sight in this beginning of the afternoon, not with the cold weather and the snow outside.

"- He went over there, I hope we didn't lose him..." The detective of the East frowned as they got out and quickly went to hide behind a nearby wooden container. "Wakanai..." He read in the label just near his head. "We're back to Hokkaido...

\- Great... Think he's goin' ta Russia from here ?

\- Wouldn't surprise me but... In a ship ? During winter, unless you got an ice-breaker, it's just asking for a shipwreck...

\- But if they had one ?" The Osakan proposed, his hand directed at the sea.

Shinichi looked in that direction and indeed saw a ship, large but not gigantic, and its hull was pretty much characteristic of an ice-breaker.

"- I can't believe... But, yea, our guy seems up there." He stated as he squinted towards the boat and recognized their opponent's silhouette and jacket. "Question is how to go in discreetly...

\- I don' think we have many choices, look, they've already started the engines... It's "rush" now or "infiltrate discreetly" too late... I don' think they'll be many men on board, with all the ones they left in the hospital..."

The azure-eyed grimaced, not really fond of the idea, and the fact he was barefoot wasn't helping to motivate him, but lacking of any better one, he agreed. "Ok, no choice, let's go !"

The two teens ran as fast as they could, using any obstacle that was on their way to hide them from the ship's crew and finally stopped behind a huge bollard at barely two meters of their goal.

Seeing there was a mooring rope leading to the back of the ship just on their left, Heiji made a sign of the head to his friend, as to ask him if he'd be ok for that kind of exercise.

Shinichi's answer was to head with determination to the rope and to bend to grab it and to slowly start climbing up. His feet were hurting like hell but he was glad for the first time of the day not to have shoes as it was easier to hold to the rope.

He finally reached his goal and let himself fall after a few steps behind the rescue boat at the back, hidden to anyone on the ship. The dark-skinned arrived a few moments later and did the same with a relieved sigh. They were on board and apparently hadn't been seen and their timing was just perfect : a man appeared two minutes later to roll up the mooring rope, they were departing.

The detective of the West had a frown when he looked in the sailor's direction, noticing they had left some wet prints behind them but they apparently went unnoticed. But the other thing that made him frown was to see that the wetness wasn't only due to the snow.

"- Ya ahou..." He grumbled as he shrugged his jacket to remove his shirt before starting to tear it into strips.

"- What the heck are you doing ? " Shinichi wondered when he saw him with his torn shirt at his feet.

"- Give me yer feet..."

The azure-eyed looked at his legs and noticed that his feet indeed didn't look good, not after a run on a half frozen snow.

"- Nevermind that...

\- Don' be stubborn, I'm already enough fer two. We can' let those wounds unattended.

-You're the one to talk..." The detective of the East retorted with irony with a look at his friend's side who hide it quickly under his jacket when he put it back.

"- I, at least, aren' leavin' a bloody trail behind us...

\- What ?!" He wondered, raising his head to have a look at the prints he left behind him, forced to see the other was right.

Giving up, he nodded in agreement to Heiji who started to tend him.

"- We gotta find a way in..." The Osakan concluded when he got up after finishing tending his friend, having noticed he was frozen in his hospital pyjama, with just a jacket on his shoulders.

"- We got to find out if Takaishi is here or not first..." Shinichi corrected when he also got on his feet, wincing a bit and using the hull to stabilize.

"- She's here." A deep voice stated, a man appearing from under the cover that was on the rescue boat.

"- The hell !" The dark-skinned jumped with the surprise, quickly taking a defence position when he recognized the man in front of him.

Kummel smiled at his reaction and the other teen's, apparently amused by the situation and his opponents' tenseness.

"- I know we didn't start on good terms, kid..." He declared, his eyes on the detective of the West. "But that was purely professional, I'm not the kind to hold grudge against someone for this, it's kill or being killed in this world after all..." The BO's agent added with a shrug, his hand passing on the remaining bump he got after Heiji's blow the previous night. "But what I can't forgive is when someone plays me for an idiot... That Takaishi..."

The boys could see the pure rage on the man's face when he stopped talking, his fists clenched and shaking at the memory of the doctor betraying him. His previous phlegm was gone : good actor or not, there was no doubt as to the wrath he felt towards the woman.

The green-eyed had a quick glimpse at his friend, to see the same kind of hesitation he knew was also in his eyes.

You couldn't trust the BO. But if they had the same goal, cooperating could be an option... With loads of precautions of course.

"- I'm proposing you an alliance... I saw eight persons on board, five sailor and three mercenaries, plus Takaishi. It'll be safer for us to be three against nine than three different parties...

\- Ten now, there's that dark-haired we followed here." Heiji précised.

"- A dark-haired ? Ah, Abe, probably. He's Takaishi's right hand, a former professional soldier who decided to propose his skills in a much more rentable way... He managed quite well, just look at this ship, it's his."

Kummel paused to look at the two in front of him, seeing they were not really sensible to his arguments and the information he was giving them.

"- Ok, I'm going to give you something as a sign of good faith... I have to take it from my jacket's pocket but I'll do it slowly, ok ?" At Shinichi's nod, the man did as he said and finally held a gun to the boys. "I don't think you guys have any weapon ? I got two so you can have this one, if you know how to use it ?

\- I do..." The Tokyoite confirmed as he stepped to grab the weapon that was in front of him, before opening it.

Seeing the man didn't even flinch to stop him from taking the gun and that it was loaded with very real bullets, he looked at his partner. This was a bad idea, he knew, it but...

"- What are you doing here ?!" A new voice snapped, catching the three men's attention, all turning their heads in the same movement.

A guard with a machine gun in the hands was facing them, his weapon pointed at the teens, the two being the closest from him.

Before he could even move, the azure-eyed felt a hand on his shoulder, hand that pushed him away, just before the sentinel fell on the floor in a soft sound, with a red dot between the eyes.

Both detectives looked at the one who was now between them, a fuming gun with a silencer in the hand.

"- So ? What do you think about that truce ?" The BO agent asked once again, his phlegm back as if nothing happened.

"- Ok, but there's one condition." Shinichi finally declared as he stepped to face the man and locked his eyes in his. "You don't kill. Not even Takaishi. We got enough proofs to have her in jail for the rest of her life, I don't want any murder.

\- Ah, I forgot the touching naivety of the younglings..." He smirked, amused by the teen's condition. "Agreed. I won't kill her or anyone else, except if my life is in any immediate danger."

Since that was the best he could have right now, the Tokyoite nodded at his statement.

"- Ya said ya saw her, remember where it was ?" Heiji asked, quite eager to end that alliance that had just begun, really not at ease with the idea of pairing with the man.

"- In the lower floors of the ships, below the deck. It looked like it was her cabin so I don't think she'll be too far away from there. Want to begin our little hunt by that place ?

\- Yea, let's try, we're following you." The azure-eyed answered, almost casually but Kummel smirked nevertheless.

He wasn't the kind to fail to notice that elementary trick : keep your enemy in front of you. But he didn't mind, everything was going as planned, this little play wouldn't last much longer.

* * *

 **Ah, by the way, sorry I didn't warn you but we'll be having a row of cliffs... until the end in fact xD**


	25. Chapter 25 - Confrontation

**Hey !**

 **So, time to see if making an alliance with a guy of the BO was a good idea... Well, some of you already guessed this may have not been the best plan of the year...xD**

 **Oh, and 'gratz to Boogum who hit the 100th review plateau for this story ! And also thanks to all the serial reviewers (Laury Rose, emmahoshi, SilverQueen08) and the readers 'in the shadow', you're my fuel^^** **  
**

 **o.O.o**

 **SilverQueen08 : Yea, I think it's fun (and that Zombie case, as a Heiji fan, I could only chill with excitement ! :D) but it also means the girls will turn out to be useles^^;; Oh, nice then, I must say I was pretty tired with this fic since I wrote so many mysteries and even a Kid note... Uh, good luck with those, it takes ages to get rid of those parents' rules^^;**

 **emmahoshi : Haha, sorry. And no, I'm not doing it on purpose xD My chapters are a bit shorter now, so the story isn't as long as detective or alliance to be honest. But it still hits the 28 chap marker^^; Yea, that lasted quite a while, poor Hattori :p** **Hehe, yea, a betrayal isn't far away... ^^ As to my next stories, I can tell you I got more coming : ) I wanted to have a little break but I got 2 plot bunnies tickling me so... The break will be for later ! One will be Hattori-centered and he probably won't be in the other (omg, my first without him o.O), I don't know yet by which one I'll start... We'll see !**

 **Boogum : Not a good idea but yea, their choices were limited... Let's see how they can get out of that mess :p Answer in the next 2 chapters... Went so fast ! o.O  
**

* * *

 **Chapter 25 : Confrontation**

* * *

The teens carefully followed the man into the ship's depths. With the wideness of the boat, having only eight men on board would mean there wouldn't be a lot of guards in the hallways but meeting one would be enough trouble already, they had to be cautious.

"- How did you find that place by the way ?" Shinichi asked in a whisper to the BO agent just in front of him.

"- One of her underlings preferred my money to hers...

\- And you came alone ? " The teen wondered, his suspicion still here, he couldn't picture a BO agent working by himself, not when he convinced the whole Organization his target had to be killed.

"- He decided quite late to betray her so I had to improvise or I would have never been able to get on that ship... Quiet now, we're almost there." Kummel hushed him with a sign of the hand.

The group was now stepping on a staircase leading to a huge storage room that was filling the whole bottom of the ice-breaker, just above the hull.

The stairs were cut in two by a platform leading to a hallway with a series of doors on each side, the crew's cabins probably.

The man, by his gestures, indicated those cabins : if Hikari was somewhere around, it would be there.

And indeed, they were barely reaching the beginning of the corridor that the nearest door opened to reveal the doctor's face.

Feeling he couldn't trust Kummel even with his promise he wouldn't hurt the woman, the azure-eyed detective stepped toward her to lead the conversation.

"- Surrender yourself, Takaishi." He ordered as he took his gun out to point it towards the girl.

"- Didn't your parent tell you to introduce yourself first when starting a conversation with a lady ?" She casually answered, barely flinching at the sight of the weapon. "Mister... ?

\- My name wouldn't interest you, it's insignificant, you'd have no use for it." The Tokyoite retorted, not willing to introduce himself in front of Kummel, a member of his worst enemy's team.

"- I do think on the contrary that it could be pretty interesting... Kummel."

A pained grunt forced Shinichi ta have a glimpse behind him with the darkest fears and what he saw didn't comfort him the last.

"- Hattori !" The detective of the East called when he saw his friend was now on his knees, his wind knocked out and holding his side with his hand, while the BO agent was holding him by the hair, a gun stuck against his temple.

"- I think you'll be careful of your manners now ?" Hikari smirked as she stepped towards him, even more comforted in her superiority when Abe came out of another cabin, a gun in the hand and the same smirk on his face.

They had been waiting for them, there was no doubt about it...

"- So, will you answer me ?" She started again, now quite close of him. "Though I have already a pretty good hunch as to what the answer will be... Working with that Hattori... These blue and defiant eyes..." The doctor smiled, now touching his face with her fingertips. "Kudô Shinichi."

The Tokyoite stepped back to get away from her touch and looked away, not wanting his eyes to betray him in front of someone so good with reading the others' hearts. But it was already too late.

"- Looks like I'm right ! " She softly laughed. "I see you've managed to get your figure back quite quickly, I must say I'm quite interested in knowing how...

\- You're manipulating Kummel." Shinichi stated out of the blue, wanting to change the subject.

"- Yes... He was starting to be quite the stalker so I had him think one of my men betrayed me and told him where to find me... He had quite the surprised face earlier when he saw not only me but also a few of my men. Well, I knew he'd be of some use later so I didn't kill him...

\- Ya were expectin' us... ?" Heiji wondered, now that he was able to breathe again despite his uncomfortable position.

"- Maa, I was expecting some visitors... When Abe explained to me what happened at the hospital, it sounded quite like a diversion, the chances to have some mice at the back of his helicopter were quite high... " Takaishi explained, still smiling, sure of herself and her reasoning. "So I ordered Kummel to hide at the back of the ship and let the area voluntarily without surveillance. Any unwanted guest would think it was the safest place to hide... Kummel had the orders to help them, by whatever means, and lead them here.

\- I can' believe ya..." The Osakan didn't want to accept, shaking his head in disbelief. That woman was so...

"- You should start to get used to it, Hattori, this is not the first time I outsmart you..." The doctor pointed out with an arrogant smirk.

"- Ya damn..."

The dark-skinned teen's insult got lot in his grunt when Kummel pulled his hairs harder, feeling the teen wanted to move.

"- But this will be the last time..." Hikari concluded, her smile disappearing to leave her face expressionless apart from her cold eyes. "Your friend still amuses me but you don't... Kummel."

Shinichi had been quiet and still at the moment but he wasn't going to stay inactive while they tried to kill his best friend !

He turned on himself quickly and pulled the trigger of his weapon after pointing it at the BO's agent. The Tokyoite was expecting for something to happen but that something wasn't what he was expecting at all : his weapon just as blew up in his hands in a cloud of white smoke, forcing him to let it go in a coughing fit, the metal burning his hands and the smoke burning his lungs.

 _"She even planned this..."_ He hissed as he clenched his teeth to control the pain, understanding now why the man had been so quick to give them a gun, no wonder since it was booby-trapped...

But the small explosion had been distracting enough and the criminal seemed a bit disoriented so Shinichi jumped at him as he could to free Heiji, half-knocking the man when his weight sent them both on the floor.

He was finishing him with a punch in the face when he heard Hikari's voice.

"- Kill just the dark-skinned one, Abe !" She was ordering as her accomplice probably got his weapon out.

"- I can't guarantee a perfect accuracy in that fog, ma'am..." He retorted with a voice half pissed off, half ironic.

Taking advantage of the fact the smoke wasn't dissipating too fast, the azure-eyed rushed to his friend and was starting to help him on his feet when he felt his own legs were wobbling like jelly.

"- Thanks... Oy, Kudô ! " The Osakan asked with urge when he felt that he was now more supporting Shinichi than he was supporting him.

"- That smoke... I bet it was some sleeping powder..." The Tokyoite managed to say despite the feebleness of his whole body. He turned his head to look at the detective of the West and locked his eyes in his. "Just leave me and run...

\- The hell... " The dark-skinned denied with bored eyes, unable to believe his friend even proposed this solution to him.

"- That's not me they want to kill, you baka !" The azure-eyed retorted, putting as much force as he could in his voice and in his arms when he pushed Heiji towards the stairs.

The other teen was still looking at him with startle : running away and leaving a friend behind to come back later had never been his philosophy...

But the fog was now fading and the first bullet brushed his cheek, under Shinichi's panicked look.

"- Hattori, now !" He ordered once again, though his voice was starting to sound like a whisper.

He had just bitten his lower lip to stay awake but his eyes were too drowsy, he barely delayed his fainting by a handful of seconds.

"- Raaaah, damn ! I'll be back, ya better stay alive !" The Osakan yelled with rage before letting him go and starting to run down the stairs, zigzagging as he could to avoid bullets more and more precise with every second.

"- Get him and kill him !" Hikari ordered to Abe, anger on her face.

The Tokyoite did as he could to put himself in the man's way, blocking his line of fire with his body so the man wouldn't be able to shoot it but it didn't last long : unable to resist anymore, he drifted towards unconsciousness.

o.O.o

Heiji closed his eyes with frustration when he heard a thud that was probably the noise of his friend falling on the floor but didn't dare to turn to look at him, he knew he wouldn't be able not to run back to him if he saw him knocked out on the ground.

A bullet scratching deeply his shoulder reminded him he also had his own problems to take care of. Abe was still up the stairs he just ran down but his past as a mercenary was clearly visible at how precise he was with a gun.

Pushing on his body as he could, the dark-skinned ran straight to the storage zone they had seen from above and did his best to go as deep as possible in this maze of boxes. He paused a little bit when he felt he was far enough, trying to catch his breath, his eyes looking by reflex at the labels on the boxes in front of him.

 _"Meds... I guess we know how she exports those ta Russia now..."_ He concluded, glad to have this information but it wasn't his first priority right now. Though, with a closer look at the molecules' name, a grin appeared on his face... _"Diazepam ? I indeed know one or two here who'd need ta relax... "_

Quickly tearing the paper box in front of him, he pocketed as much boxes as he could before starting to move again, not wanting to stay immobile too long despite his exhaustion, not with a killer on the loose in the warehouse.

The Osakan headed as he could on a side of the storage room, doing his best not to think about his best friend, knowing he couldn't allow himself to, it would disturb him too much in his task. Once he finally reached the hull, he stopped once again and put his handkerchief on the floor to crush some tabs in it with his shoe, trying to get a powder thin enough for his opponent to be able to breathe it.

 _"Let's hope this will still be efficient like that..."_ He wished, not absolutely sure the meds would work through the lungs and knowing it could affect the time span needed for them to have any effect...

The dark-skinned was pocketing his precious cargo when a faint noise informed him he wasn't alone anymore in the area. As discreetly as he could, he climbed a few boxes to wait for Abe to pass near of him.

And that wasn't long, barely a few instants later, the former mercenary was just in the hallway below him, unaware of the presence of the teen only at a few inches on his side.

Taking the opportunity that was so luckily offered to him, Heiji jumped from his hideout and tackled the man, sending his weapon away by the shock. Seeing the criminal had his wind knocked out since he landed on his stomach, the Osakan took his handkerchief out and blew it in his face when he breathed in once again.

Apart from the coughing fit it triggered, the tabs' powder had barely any visible effect and the green-eyed sweat-dropp-ed when he noticed that fact. Quickly, he tried to get away from the man but a strong hand grabbed him by his collar and slammed him on the ground, fingers around his throat.

Noticing what was remaining of the dark-skinned bandages as the teen was only wearing his jacket, Abe smirked and started to punch conscientiously the spot that was already wounded.

The detective of the West struggled as he could but each blow was blurring his vision more and more, a metallic taste now in his mouth. He was starting to lose consciousness when suddenly his opponent's eyes rolled back into his skull and he fell on the ground just near him.

The snores were loud enough to inform Heiji the man was clearly down for a while and that allowed him to breathe a little bit, his back on the floor, not daring to move yet, closing his eyes with relief.

But his break turned out to be the short one as the Osakan felt he was starting to doze off so he forced himself to move. He couldn't just sleep there on the floor, while his best friend was in that Takaishi's hands and prisoner in a ship filled with only hostile people.

Using the nearby boxes as a support to get up, the dark-skinned quickly looked around him and saw what he was looking for : Abe's gun. Trying to ignore the painful spikes every of his movements sent to his wounded side, he bent to retrieve it.

 _"Just hold on a little bit longer, I'm comin', Kudô."_ He promised with a determined face as he stuck the weapon in the back of his trousers.


	26. Chapter 26 - Frozen

**Heya !**

 **Oh dear, just one more chapter to close the story and then the epilogue o.O**

 **I'm not ready at all to publish something else after that story so you'll have to wait a bit ^^;** **In the meanwhile, have fun with this chapter ! ; )**

 **o.O.o**

 **emmahoshi : Haha, yea, sounds strange to me too, to think about writing a story without Heiji... I may have him as a guest star ? :p Yea, I wanted her to be like that after all : ) And that's why I wasn't hiding there'd be a betrayal, since I knew most wouldn't imagine te 'how' ; ) Heh, I like experimenting different things and Heiji's my favourite guinea pig so... ^^; Maa, let's hope I'll be able to entertain you with my next Hattori story : )**

 **SiverQueen08 : Yup : ) I think Shin was my fav' at the beginning but now Heiji's my first^^ Haha, well I like her cold glares and her taunting and there's quite the deepness into her chara so I can get why you like her : ) It's also a character I appreciate a lot, I'm just bad with dealing with CoAi... (a fandom really appreciated in France). Uhh exams ? good luck with those... (hell week ? how crazy is the education in your country to create something like that...^^;;)**

 **Boogum : Yea, I guess they should think about having a plan once or twice, improvising is perhaps not a great idea for two teenagers, no matter how intelligent they are ^^;**

 **Laury Rose : For your review for chap24 : I like the craziest situations and since the BO weren't the bad guys in that story, it was fun to have this to happen : ) Don't worry, I know being an author is busy, above all if you have a life out there :p Haha... more bad than good indeed.. ^^ chap 25 : Yup, she programmed him too, perhaps not for that exact situation but she could have used him to persuade the BO to let her go so it was important fer her to have him under her control : ) Yea, hard to picture Heiji doing something like this heh ? But for once, he listened to 'the voice of reason' instead of his hot-blooded-self... Yup, Shinichi's "sauvetage" today ! ; ) Haha, you're welcome too, you did review each and every of my chapters, so of course you're a 'serial reviewer' :3**

* * *

 **Chapter 26 : Frozen**

* * *

Heiji came back slowly to the metal stairs he went down perhaps 30 minutes earlier, careful not to do any noise, but apparently Hikari had been trusting Abe in his task to get rid of him. And that was for the best, since he didn't feel he had the strength to start an improvised fight, knowing he'd have after at least one guard to face to free his friend.

But the chances were low : if Kummel hadn't been lying about the number of occupants of the ship, only two guards and the BO's agent were left among the "fighting" team. Though he'd better add the doctor to that team, the woman had shown she was able to kill without even flinching during that case lost in the mountains.

Now that he was going to climb the stairs, the Osakan got Abe's gun out. That wouldn't be much, he had never really been trained to use a firearm, but at least it could be intimidating.

The dark-skinned tried his luck in the hallway with the cabins, knowing the chances were high to find Shinichi in there, since it was probably the only place you could lock somewhere in without sealing a door that would be needed for the crew. And indeed, the teen had to suddenly flatten himself against a wall when he arrived at an intersection and saw that a man with an automatic gun was guarding a door a little bit on the left side.

Despite the adrenaline that, Heiji knew it, was probably the only thing that allowed him to stand on his feet, he didn't feel fit enough to face him and his detective's mind was chilling at the idea of using the gun he had in the hand against someone else.

So it was with a relieved smile he saw a huge wrench just near a canalisation and he immediately grabbed it silently, while putting his gun back in his trousers.

The weapon was much more to the green-eyed teen's taste but it was still out of question to rush and try to surprise a man with an automatic gun with just a wrench. With hope, he dug into his pockets and found a few coins, a classic but efficient diversion.

The Osakan threw one of his coins as discreetly as he could to the corridor on his right and clenched his hands around his weapon, ready to hit the man as soon as he'd show his back to him, but the guard didn't even flinch.

 _"_ _The hell ?! It always works in the movies !"_ He internally ranted with an annoyed grimace.

The dark-skinned carefully selected the second one, a five yen coin, the Japanese coin of luck, this would work !

Keeping for him a cry of victory when the guard finally moved on his second attempt, he slammed the wrench as hard as he could against his neck, sending him to the floor, unconscious. But, despite the noise of the engines that was covering a lot of things, the loud landing of the man and his weapon on the floor brought a grimace to the detective of the West's face : he had to be quick or he'd soon have to face the whole crew.

Letting his wrench go, he headed to the improvised cell's door and frowned when he saw the heavy metallic wheel he'd had to turn to open it.

 _"_ _I want a whole week o' rest after this..."_ Heiji sighed before grabbing it and clenching his teeth.

But, since it seemed quite well maintained, he finally didn't have much strength to put to open the door and see the little room behind it, where he spotted Shinichi lying on a bed.

Noticing he wasn't moving, he approached with a concerned face and put his hand on his best friend's shoulder to shake him awake.

"- Oy Kudô, the nap is over..."

A sleepy grumble was his only answer, indicating, and that was reassuring, that the azure-eyed teen was probably just still under the sleeping smoke he breathed earlier.

With a grin, the Osakan put his ice-cold hand against his neck.

"- 'hell !" The Tokyoite's surprised voice complained as he backed away.

"- Time ta wake up, Kudô, unless ya want ta nap forever here...

\- Hattori !" The detective recognized with joy when he finally completely opened his eyes and sat to look properly at the one near him. " Are you... ?"

But the teen didn't even finish his question. It was clear the one in front of him wasn't alright, he could tell it already at the pale colour of his face, he didn't even need to see the stains here and there.

"- If ya don' mind, with all the noise I made ta free ya, we should take our leave..." The dark-skinned proposed with a feeble smile.

"- Yea, let's go." He agreed with a nod before putting his weight on his feet with a grimace as they painfully reminded to him he had been walking on frozen snow without shoes.

"- Grab that guy's shoes on the way, he won' need them..." Heiji grinned with a sign to the guard on the floor.

"- Good idea... What happened to you ? Was that...

\- Abe, yea. But he'll be out fer a while, don' worry.

\- Ok... "

Shinichi quickly removed the man's military boots and put them with a grimace. It had nothing agreeable to put someone else's shoes, above all when they were too big for you, but he had no choice and their remaining warmth was already soothing his frozen feet.

The detective of the East got up and looked at his Osakan friend who had been laying against a nearby wall in the meanwhile, his eyes half-closed.

"- We need to call for help..." He observed with a frown of concern.

"- Don' look at me, ya got my phone..." The dark-skinned reminded him after he opened his eyes again to look at him.

The Tokyoite searched his pockets and found the device, apparently no one minded to remove it from his jacket. He was wondering why someone as cautious as Hikari didn't take it away but a quick glimpse at it gave him the reason : in this big metallic hull, there wasn't any signal, the phone was useless.

"- No signal... We should try on the deck.

\- Let's go up there then...

\- You sure you don't want to hide somewhere here in the meanwhile ? You don't look good...

\- Nah, I'll be comin' ya..." Heiji refused with a negative sign of the head. "I prob'ly won' be at my best if we have ta fight but better two than one... Ah, reminds me, I think this thin' will be more useful ta ya than me." He added, grabbing the gun from his back and putting it in Shinichi's hands.

o.O.o

The teens had been carefully going up to the deck, the azure-eyed helping his friend. They knew the last guard would probably be watching this part to the ship but no way for them to be sure and they had no idea of where Takaishi and Kummel were so that forced them to be extra cautious in their moves.

Luckily, when they arrived at the top of the stairs and opened the door that led to the outside, they could see the guard was at the rear of the ship, far enough from them not to be a threat.

"- I'll be watchin' him, make yer call in the meanwhile." The Osakan proposed.

"- Good idea."

The detective of the East quickly dialled Jodie's number : she had to know by now they had been leaving in Abe's helicopter so she probably prepared a plan to meet them as soon as possible. Well, that's what he was fervently hoping, knowing that they hadn't a lot of ways out while stuck on some ice-breaker heading to Russia.

"- Hattori-kun ?

\- I'm calling in his stead, I'm Kudô Shinichi." He introduced himself, feeling a bit weird to have to do it for someone he knew so well as Conan but that was needed

"- You're still together ? On the helicopter ?

\- I'm still with Hattori but we're on a ship probably going to the Sakhalin Islands right now and kind of need your help to get out of here... " The Tokyoite admitted with embarrassment.

"- Do you have any way to leave that ship ? I don't want to sound pessimistic but, if you enter Russia's national waters, we won't be able to help you anymore... " The blond haired pointed out with urge in her voice.

Shinichi looked around him a little while before his eyes fell on the rescue boat.

"- We got something." He confirmed.

"- Ok, so just try to let your phone switched on as long as you could so we can track you. Don't expect help just right now but we'll do as fast as we can, so the two of you just hang on, ok ?

\- Yea, thanks."

The azure-eyed turned to Heiji after he hung up.

"- Jodie is tracking your phone through its signal, they should be able to find us.

\- Good ta hear..." The Osakan answered shortly, trying to keep a straight face.

"- The only thing is that we need to leave the ship : if we reach Russia, it'll be too risky for them to intervene due to the old grudges between the USA and the former URSS... "

Looking around him, the dark-skinned had the same idea than his partner.

"- The rescue boat ?

\- Yes.

\- But there's that guard... If ya shoot him, we'll have everyone here in a sec'...

\- Who do you think I am..." Shinichi smirked as he bent to grab a little buoy that was hanging on the ship's guardrail.

With a kick as powerful as Conan's with his power-enhancing shoes, the teen slammed the buoy in the sentry's back, and he hit the floor to stay there, unmoving.

"- Ok, let's go !" He ordered as he took Heiji's arm to put it around his shoulder and helped him to reach the rear of the boat.

They were halfway when the detective of the East froze, recognizing the noise of the deck's door being open.

"- Freeze and now !" Hikari's voice yelled as she and Kummel arrived outside and she saw both teens heading to the rescue boat. "Hattori ! прика́з !"

The Tokyoite had a concerned look at the one he was supporting as he felt he froze and seeing the sweat along his face, not knowing if it was due to a physical pain or a mental fight.

"- Oy, Hattori !

"- Attack him !" The doctor ordered, a smirk of satisfaction on her face when she saw she had been able to get some control on the dark-skinned teen.

As asked, the green-eyed threw his fist in his partner's face, with such strength that he ended on the floor on the stomach, not moving anymore.

"- Kummel, tie the one on the floor."

The BO's agent did as commanded and stepped towards the teen before bending to him to grab his left wrist. But when he tried to grab the second one, he had the surprise to feel him move to turn and face him, his weapon now in his hand.

Knowing there was no way to deal with a hypnotized man after his experience with the Osakan, the teen decided to incapacitate him with a bullet in the leg. Heiji, when the man fell on his knees, still expressionless despite what should have been a painful wound, finished him with a hit on the temple.

"- You'll pay for this..." The woman hissed with wrath, getting her own weapon out.

Hearing her threat, the Tokyoite turned to her direction and fired, though not at her, but at the small fire-extinguisher near her legs.

The blast of the red bottle exploding threw her against the deck's door and she ended motionless on the floor.

The detective of the East quickly grabbed his friend once again, eager to leave that damn ship as soon as they could.

"- Could you stop scaring me for once ?" Shinichi admitted with a grin as they walked.

"- Haha, yea, I should stop, this isn' good fer my heart..." The green-eyed retorted with embarrassment. "Those sleepless nights with Jake-han weren' that ineffective eventually... Could ya just try ta stop ta catch the eye o' all the female mad scientists around ?" He added, a smirk on his face now.

"- ScientistS ?" The other wondered before a small grin appeared on his face. "Haibara ?! Haha, if she had heard you, you'd already be dead... or worse, poisoned..." He précised with a little laugh, amused at the idea of Heiji being turned into a baby or an oldie in one of the girl's experiments.

The azure-eyed teen stopped when they reached their goal and removed the cover of the boat with one hand before helping the dark-skinned on board.

"- You stay there, I'll be lowering the boat and meet you down there.

\- I'll... "

Seeing his friend dark glare, the Osakan finally nod and took place aboard. Despite his jokes, now that the situation was a bit calmer, his whole body was starting to hurt like hell and was wondering how long he'd be able to stay conscious.

With an encouraging smile, the Tokyoite gently pushed the boat above the water and cranked the handle to lower it step by step. It was a bit physical and the fact he was quite tired didn't help but, with the crew busy to navigate in the frozen ocean, no one would disturb him in his task.

A splashing noise informed him the rescue boat was now floating on the water but he preferred to bend above the hull to confirm it.

The green-eyed waved at him to signify he could go down when he saw him but his peaceful expression turned to worry in one instant.

"- Kudô !"

Before he could even turn to look behind him, Shinichi felt his wind was knocked out, tackled from behind by a silhouette with long black hair who fell with him overboard.

Takaishi.

The detective's head hit once the hull before the ice-cold of the sea prevented him to breathe once again and the swirl of the water at the back of the ice breaker threw him in an incontrollable rolling, turning again and again in the dark seas, not able to tell what was up and down, trapped in the ocean.

A golden glimpse caught his attention, at just a few inches of his head.

By reflex, he reached out his hand, before remembering what it was.

The girl's face popped in his mind : it was Ran's talisman.

The teen had a sad smile and...

The darkness swallowed him.

* * *

 **Прика** **́** **з** **: Order, in Russian**


	27. Chapter 27 - Surfacing

**Heya !**

 **Aaaaand here is the last chapter for this story, only the epilogue remains, I'll publish that this weekend : ) (it's a bit of an independent thing though, like all my epilogues ^^)**

 **Let's finish this ! :D And no cliff this time xD**

 **o.O.o**

 **Laury Rose : Haha, well, I promised loads of cliffs, I had to do one of the worst in the end : ) And all your questions will find an answer in this chapter, of course : p Cruel ? Yea, among some other things... I wanted to build a true bad guy, I told you ^^**

 **SilverQueen08 : Ah yea, they do have a lot in common in their behaviour so I can get that, this doesn't seem strange to me : ) (once Saguru stops to just loving himself, I picture him with someone calm like this... else he'd explode xD). Oh, so it's over ? Gratz, you lived it ^^ A bal... We don't have this kind of thing in France (well, a very few schools does but that's not a thing) but it sounds fun (though, shy as I was in high school, I very probably would have hated it ^^;;;)**

 **emmahoshi : Haha, yea, he did it, thanks Jake ! ^^ But messing with a brain is a complicated thing, just solving it in a sec' would have sounded too easy, right ? I had to make it last a bit :p Oh, thanks : ) I wanted her to be quite the opponent (I promised it in my fic's synopsis after all^^) so glad to hear she's starting to have some impact : ) Ah, as I said, Shin was my fav' until not so long ago so he had to get his share xD For the antidote, well, it's the 24h version so they have until next morning... Will it be enough ? :p Hehe, since you weren't looking forward this chapter, I posted it late xD (nah, joking, I was so busy I almost forgot ^^;;;) Aaaand s promised, Kaito will be in the epilogue ... Let's see how the guys will have to pay their debt ... xD**

* * *

 **Chapter 27 : Surfacing**

* * *

But something, someone, didn't seem to really appreciate the idea of him giving up to the oblivion of the depths and grabbed his collar with force, dragging the both of them to the surface, kicking the water with all the strength that remained in his legs to reach the fresh air.

"- Oi, Kudô !"

Still not really conscious, it was Heiji's concerned voice echoing in his ears and the feeble warmth of the sun on his face that gave Shinichi the information he needed : he wasn't underwater any more, he could breathe !

The teen gulped as much air as he could to fill his empty lungs before coughing the water he swallowed in his haste. Repeating the manoeuvre a few times, the Tokyoite could finally open his eyes and look around him, to see his best friend had his hand around his neck, keeping his head out of the sea.

"- Hey welcome back..." The dark-skinned said with a small smile when he saw he was completely awake. "I'll be bringin' us closer ta the rescue boat, ok ?

\- Takaishi ... ?

\- Didn' see her."

The azure-eyed teen nodded and tried to stay as still as possible not to hinder his friend in his swimming.

"- Think ya can get on board by yerself ?" The detective of the West asked when he let him go cautiously.

"- Yea..."

The water was so cold, Shinichi was really eager to get out of it, so he managed to get in quite quickly, faster than he expected. He just wanted to roll on his back and sleep on the floor but he remembered his friend was still in the ocean and didn't seem to try to climb the small hull.

"- Oi, get in..." He ordered with a feeble voice, grabbing the dark-skinned teen's jacket to haul him in the ship when he saw his eyes were drowsy and he seemed to be at the verge of losing consciousness after that last effort.

As he could, the Osakan used the other's strength and, after a long struggle, they were both in the rescue boat, lying on their back, heavily breathing, looking at the ice-breaker continuing on his way.

"- Thanks...

\- Thank _you_ , Hattori..."The Tokyoite corrected, knowing he'd still be swimming under the water with a bunch of fishes without his friend's help, a sport that no human could practise more than a few minutes without deadly consequences.

"- Any time... That's more that stuff that saved ya..." Heiji wanted to precise, raising his arm above their head to show what was in his hand.

"- Stuff ?" His eyes fell on the item the dark-skinned was showing to him. An o-mamori. Ran's.

"- I saw it shine in the water an' found ya just a few feet below..." He explained as he let his arm down.

"- I'll have to thank her..." Shinichi said with a little smile, a tender expression on the face.

"- Since when ya're that romantic... ?" His friend mocked him when he saw his expression, before closing his eyes, exhausted.

"- Hey, don't sleep Hattori..." The azure-eyed ordered, knowing they couldn't just sleep like this in wet clothes when it was minus ten Celsius degrees outside. Yea, it wasn't snowing anymore but the cold would kill them.

"- Hmmm..." The other vaguely answered, not really listening anymore.

"- Crap..."

Despite his exhaustion and the fact his head was hurting like hell, probably in need of some stitches, the Tokyoite forced himself with a grunt to sit and spotted a metallic truck with a red cross on it, the survival kit. He rumbled into it and found with relief what he was looking for, some survival blankets. There also were some bandages but the detective didn't think he'd had the strength to bandage his friend, not when he knew he'd have to support most of his weight since the Osakan couldn't even sit by himself.

Shinichi grabbed two blankets and came back to Heiji to remove his jacket, knowing he had to get rid of their clothes since they were filled with ice-cold water so it wouldn't exactly help to warm themselves up.

"- The hell, it's freezin', Kudô..." The dark-skinned grumbled when he felt his vest wasn't on his shoulders anymore so he tried to grab it.

"- I know that, you baka... But you'll get warmer in a survival blanket than in a wet jacket.

\- ... 'k.."

The azure-eyed helped his friend to roll himself in the thin cover, grimacing when he saw the wide bruise now surrounding his bandages that couldn't mean any good but he couldn't do anything for that right now.

Once finished, Shinichi did the same and removed his jacket to take cover under the blanket with a chill, feeling better every minute. Spotting something that was going out from one of its pockets, he had a sigh when he saw Osakan's phone was drenched.

 _"_ _Hope Jodie-sensei had enough time to locate us..."_ He prayed, before settling near the other teen, his back against the boat's side, his legs against him.

"- Hold on..." The detective of the East asked to his friend when he saw his pale face shiver.

"- Ne, Kudô..." Heiji started with a sleepy voice. "Next time yer girl wins a trip... fer a place where the temperatures are under 25°C... Just forget me. I had enough cold... fer a lifetime.

\- Got it..." The other answered with a little laugh. "Though you didn't seem to be that annoyed last time when we found you with Kazuha...

\- She's warm... Warmer than ya at least...

\- I bet..." The azure-eyed retorted with a smirk. "Love keeps warm... So, when will you admit it ?

\- Admit what... ?

\- That you're in love ?

\- In... love ? Nah, it's not the right moment... It's never the right moment..." The dark-skinned regretted, still half conscious, probably not even knowing he was giving answers he perhaps didn't want to.

"- Why ?

\- Dunno...

\- Then think about it."Shinichi concluded, to be surprised to see his friend seemed to have listened to him for once, since he went silent after that, somewhere between his thoughts and unconsciousness.

His eyes laid on the vast frozen sea around them : with the trail of broken ice they left behind them, it shouldn't be that hard to find them... He wanted to do his best to stay awake, to be able to make some signs to any rescue team that could come to them but the ocean had this lulling effect, add to that he was already exhausted and probably with a concussion, so it wasn't long before he dozed off despite his efforts.

The Tokyoite jumped awake a while after, when a helicopter passed above his head. Rushing on his knees, he plunged into the survival box to retrieve a flare and lightened it as fast as he could with his frozen hands, holding it high above his head.

He had a relieved smiled when he saw the vehicle changed its course to come back towards him.

They were saved.

o.O.o

Shinichi hadn't really seen the faces of the ones who helped him as his consciousness had been drifting once again and his first clear memories were when he woke up, alone in a hospital room, a little while after.

The skies were now dark, the night was here, he just hoped it wasn't too far gone, he had that 24-hours limit after all. He tried to get up but stopped halfway when he winced, feeling light-headed, and he understood why when he brought his hand to his head and felt a thick bandage. That hit against the hull during his fall with Hikari, very probably.

Now that he was sitting, his feet above the floor, he could see they had also been bandaged.

He nevertheless wanted to try once again to stand when the door of his room opened on the face of a very familiar FBI agent.

"- Akai ?! What are you doing here ? Though I don't even know where's "here"...

\- Glad to see you too, Kid... We're in Wakanai, Hokkaido. I'm doing some errands for Jodie, that's why I'm here. She preferred me to come first to clarify what happened before warning the Mouri's group.

\- Good idea... Got any news about Hattori ?" The teen asked, now that he was awake enough to think straight.

"- Yea, I was with the doctor right now, he was just waking up. Want to see him ?

\- Yea. How is he ?" He wondered, his eyes on the FBI agent who was grabbing the wheelchair that was in a corner of his room.

"- it could have been worse but luckily the cold slowed down the internal bleeding caused by his broken rib... He's good now, he'll just need a bunch of rest."

The azure-eyed had feared something like that after he saw that dark bruise on his side so he was relieved to hear the doctors had been able to treat his friend and that he was safe.

"- Need help ?" The dark-haired asked once he reached his bed.

"- Nah, it's ok..." Shinichi refused with pride, already annoyed to have to move around in a wheelchair but knowing he wouldn't be able to do otherwise, at least not right now.

He winced a bit on his feet but managed to reach the chair and let himself fall in it, before Akai took him for a walk in the hallways.

Two corridors and an elevator later, they were entering Heiji's room, in the surgery department.

"- Hey !" The Osakan smiled when he recognized his friend from his bed, noticing the bandage around his head. "How is my favourite acrobatic diver doin' ?

\- Better than you it seems..." The Tokyoite retorted with a flat look at his friend, who shrugged as if it was nothing. Though he was happy to see his face was of a better colour than the last time he saw him, he was just still looking a bit sleepy but who wouldn't after some surgery.

"- Hmm I'm not sure you know each other so I'll do the introductions... This is Akai Shuuichi, a colleague of Jodie-sensei...

\- Colleague eh ?" The teen repeated, eyeing the man, guessing it meant it was another FBI agent. "I'm Hattori Heiji, best detective o' the West !

\- Hattori... As in Osaka's Police Superintendent Hattori Heizô ?

\- Nah, as in Hattori Heiji, I don' need Oyaji's renown ta be famous..." The green-eyed wanted to correct with a bored voice.

"- Got it, got it..." Akai answered, raising his hands in front of him as an apology.

"- So, what did we miss ? "Shinichi asked, curious to know how they ended here.

"- Well, after that mess at Beika's hospital, James – our boss – called me to stay on standby, time to find out where you ended with that helicopter.

\- How's Kogoro-san by the way ?" The azure-eyed wondered, still a bit guilty to have had to leave him on that roof.

"- Got a bullet in the shoulder, nothing too serious though, he has already been discharged.

\- An' Jake-han ?

\- He was shot in the leg, he'll have to walk with crutches a little while but that's all." The dark-haired answered once again.

"- What happened then ? You found us thanks to Hattori's phone ?

\- Yea, that's it. I was in that helicopter that found you.

\- Any trace o' Takaishi ? We fell together from the ship..." The Tokyoite précised, not knowing what really happened to the woman. He or Heiji didn't see her surfacing but that didn't necessarily mean she died, they were quite busy back then...

"- Nope... We only found you two." The FBI agent stopped a bit, in his thoughts. "We could ask for a search team but, with the current, the frozen ocean and the night... I don't think we'll be able to find anything...

\- An' the ice-breaker ? It was filled with meds, there were enough proofs ta stop their traffic..." Heiji frowned, remembering the storage area and its numerous boxes of pills.

"- We spotted it on our radars but it was already in Russia so... We can't intervene here..." Akai deplored as he shook his head.

"- We'll give you the information on Abe, he was the one leading the attack at the hospital and the owner of the ship..." The Tokyoite confirmed, wanting at least for the traffic to stop.

"- You'll give me those in the train, I'll be escorting you back to Tokyo tonight by the Shinkansen. When is the deadline ?

\- Tomorrow, sometime between 9 and 10 a.m. ...

\- Ok, we'll wait for you to change and I'll bring you back to the Mouris.

\- W... What ?!" The Osakan suddenly spurted when he realized his friend was so casually speaking of his hidden identity and his changes with a FBI agent.

"- What what ?" Shinichi frowned at the other teen overreacting.

"- He... knows ?

\- You're not the only one who has been able to guess that, Hattori..." Akai answered with a smirk.

"- An' ya didn' tell me ? " Heiji reproached the detective of the East with an accusing glare. " I thought ya were supposed ta tell me everythin' _everythin'_ last time ?

\- Kind of forgot to... ?" He retorted with a fake innocent smile.

"- Great..." The green-eyed sighed as he rolled his eyes. "An' what about me ? I'm not goin' ta stay there forever...

\- The doctors found your ID card in your pants so they called your parents, they asked for you to be transferred to Osaka's General Hospital. They wanted to wait a bit to see how you were doing first so it should be sometime tomorrow morning. Ah and Jodie told me that female friend of yours left the Mouri's to wait for you there too.

\- Kazuha ? Uhh, I bet she'll be angry...

\- Wouldn't be surprising... Try to confess to her, it may calm her down ?" Shinichi proposed with a smug smile.

"- Con.. Confess ?! I dunno what ya're talkin' about... I'll never do that..." The dark-skinned refused with a deep blush.

"- Yea, not the good time, I know...

\- Sorry to interrupt you, gents, but Kudô and I should get prepared or we'll miss the last train. I'm afraid it may be long to convince the doctors to let you out, Kid...

\- I guess... Laters Hattori !

\- Laters, Kudô !"

o.O.o

After their conversation, estimating Hikari had really good chances to have been killed, Akai had called Jodie for her to warn the Mouris they could go home. They'd keep a slight surveillance at the beginning, hoping it would turn to be useless.

So it was against the Agency's door that Akai knocked the following morning, the tiny hand of Conan in his.

The boy looked tired, his change was still recent and with everything that happened the previous day, he was absolutely dead tired. He had removed the bandages around his feet not to worry Ran too much but had to keep the one around his head since his ears were still ringing a bit, he'd need rest.

"- Yes ...?" Ran started as she opened the door before her eyes fell on the child. "Conan-kun !" She exclaimed before grabbing him in a hug.

"- Who's there, Ran ?"

Kogoro appeared at the door and frowned with annoy when he saw the small detective's head between his daughter's arms. But before he could even think about separating them, the man who was with Conan coughed to have their attention.

"- Good morning. I'm Akai, I'm working with Jodie. " He said, holding his hand for a hand shake with the moustached detective.

"- Yea, she warned us. Thanks for _protecting_ Conan during that attack at the hospital..." The sleeping detective said, though Akai and Shinichi could both hear that he wasn't buying it... At all.

"- Any time. I'll be taking my leave then." The FBI agent said with a little bow.

Kogoro nodded at him and the man left.

"- Come on Ran, let him breathe..." He ordered, grabbing the boy's arm to interrupt their hug with irritation in the voice.

"- Are you alright, Kogoro-jiisan ?" Conan asked innocently when he looked up at his uncle-substitute after he took his wrist.

"- Just a scratch, this won't be enough to get rid of the great Mouri Kogoro !" The man answered with a strong voice, letting the boy's arm go to slap his own, the one that was in a sling as if it didn't hurt, though apparently it did, according to his pained grimace.

"- Yea, yea, well, the Great Mouri Kogoro needs his lunch and I bet Conan-kun too so I'll be heading to the kitchen !" Ran cheerfully informed them, glad to see they were both mostly alright and that they were all back to their old life, just the three of them, at the agency.

Conan looked at her with a fond smile when she got up the stairs, humming, in a good mood.

Kogoro, as if he was expecting it, looked at the boy with bored eyes. He didn't get why he didn't notice the truth any sooner. He had always seen that protective look when the boy's eyes were on Ran, a maturity on the face, not the one of a seven years old.

And, remembering his reckless actions as "Conan", he was starting to think that, perhaps, that kid hadn't such a bad core after all... Perhaps even he could be later the one who'd be able to make smile Ran every day.

But there was one problem right now. One !

"- _Conan_..." He started, with an ice even colder as the one the child got in Hokkaido earlier in the voice. "If I ever see you again walking to the same bathroom than Ran, you're a dead... _child_."

The small detective gulped at the hard eyes on him, getting that his uncle-substitute, being sure he was Shinichi, realized that some things that had happened under his roof that could be allowed to a child but weren't suitable at all if the child was 10 years older...

"- Haaaaai !" He confirmed with a childish tone, sweat-dropping in his thoughts.

 _"Uhhh,_ f _athers are scary..."_ He thought as he escaped to the stairs, rushing to the kitchen.

* * *

 **I just wanted to clarify a thing... My beta told be she thought about the 17th movie with that last scene, when Shin is saved. To be honest, I didn't notice and wasn't thinking about it at all But no, this is absolutely not a tribute to that film... I really love Conan movies but this one is... *sigh* Let's say not in my top list, except if I start with the end... ^^;;;** **(only thing fun to me was the KazuHei... but it was absolutely OoC )**


	28. Chapter 28 - Epilogue

**Aaand here we are. The end.**

 **Hope you enjoyed this story, if yes, please leave a review : )**

 **It was a bit harder for me with all those mysteries but I'm glad this turned out like that, I like it.**

 **Thanks as always to all he reviewers, followers, favoriters, readers and all, don't forget you're the fuel of us, authors, so keep supporting us ! : )**

 **I'm working on my new story, once again something a bit different, I hope I'll be able to publish something before the end of this month but I'm not sure, life is pretty busy right now ^^; I'll do my best ~ !**

 **o.O.o**

 **emmahoshi : I'll be leaving an ambiguous end : ) On all the subject in fact : Heiji's romance, Shin's romance, Kogoro who learns the truth... It's funnier like this ^_^ Yea, while I'm not sure Akai knows exactly who Conan is, he sure knows he's no kid so I pushed that information a bit further : ) Yup, if we were in a world where feelings were more important than logic and proofs, Shin would be doomed xD Yea, a bit like me... I watched it once only and I can't say I'm fond of it... I'm also more into the old movies. They really could move your heart ! I thought appreciated the 14th, it was so funny xD But I'd say the one I like the less are the 18th, the 11th and the 17th, for different reasons for each... Ah well, since I think Hakuba is the 'beta' for Shinichi, this could have been faaar worse, right? xD And this arrogant side of him has been punished when he turned into a child so he's a bit tamer now : ). Yea, I'm usually always preferring side-kicks to heroes. The heroes are strong, don't make mistakes, always win. The side kicks, just like Heiji, are more human. Vulnerable. And can do some silly mistakes : ) Far more interesting I think :D And of course it's easier to identify to them, I got what you meant : ) I think Heiji's side I identify the most to is his way to take out the drama of everything. A joke, a stupid stunt. Nevermind. Just see the positive side of live, instead of staying in the dark. And how he supports the others, without making a big deal out of it : ) Interesting character, yea ^^**

 **SilverQueen08 : Oh, had fun I hope ? : ) And then ... College ? Good luck with that ^^ Yea, I also though about that ep' (174 FYI :) )but, since I love it, I don't mind my fic being compared to it xD Perhaps the first time in the manga we see Kudô being seriously worried for Heiji and looking for him desperately... Such bromance ! ^^**

 **Laury Rose : Yea, as I said, I'm not familiar enough to that film to make any tribute to it ^^;; Ah, well, since Gosho said Shinichi would never cry, I can't help but think this scene was OoC... But it was daring, yea ^^;;; Thanks ! And yes, I needed to end on a happy note after all... The following epilogue is also ^^ Maa, I was just using the manga... After the kamaitachi, the only reason heiji gives is that he's looking for a cool place to declare his love to match Kudô and his Big Ben declaration *sighs* "Never the right moment", so that's why I had him like that :p Haha... No ! 28 means nothing to me ^^;;; But it ended like this, once again... Though, when I wrote Alliances, I used to have 2500-3500 words chapters. Now, it's more 2000-3000. So, ok, it's still 28 chaps but it's shorter in fact. So pure coincidence ^^;;; *French spotted* xD Kogoro has this cool side sometimes, I wanted to show it in that fic : )**

* * *

 **Chapter 28 : Epilogue**

* * *

"- Can ya remind me what the hell we're doin' here, Kudô..." Heiji stated with a flat glare, a pissed off expression on his face.

"- Hey, don' snap on me, I didn't ask for anything... We're mostly here because you haven't been careful last time, remember ?

\- That's the last time I accept ta close my eyes when the Kid is around...

\- Could have been worse you know... I've seen Hakuba with pink hair once..." Conan smirked, still laughing at the memory of the very serious half-brit with such a bright colour on the head.

"- Pink ?" The Osakan snorted, forgetting a second his irritation.

"- Yup. Pink ponytails. Matching his dress.

\- Haha... But that stupid ass doesn' even have long hair...

\- Never underestimate the Kaitou Kid...

\- ... Got that."

"- Don't be afraid, ladies, we're coming to help you !"

The dark-skinned looked at the man who just talked, one with red clothes and a megaphone in the hands.

And 50 meters below his feet.

Well, that was what he estimated, he wasn't sure, it wasn't really easy right now to see his own feet and what was under them, not with the frilly dress he was wearing in the way.

The small detective came to Osaka a little while after their adventure, leaving time for both of them to recover. And, _by chance_ , a heist had been announced by that Thief in white in Osaka just after he arrived.

The two detectives received their own invitation, a slightly different version than the others'. Under the inevitable riddle, a short sentence "Don't forget your debt" had been added, with a meeting point fifteen minutes before the theft. They had been getting there and, after some small talk, the Kid had asked them to close their eyes and...

When they woke up, they were up there. With girl's clothes and very probably with make-up, knowing the level of perfectionism of the Thief. For the make-up, they weren't sure, they couldn't really see, since they were tied in the back of the other. The rope that tied them was connected to a crane that no one had been able to open, and it was holding them at something like 50 meters of the ground.

Too far away to warn anyone that the Kid was very probably in the team of firemen who was trying to come to help them.

Too far away to inform them that, by "pure" luck, they were hanging barely at one meter away of the window that was just in front of the "Dame Rosethorn", an over-ornate necklace with a huge ruby in the middle, inaccessible by the building itself but, since the teens could see it quite well from where they were, it would be child's play to retrieve it from the outside.

"- I at least hope that the debt had been paid with that..." Conan sighed when he saw the great ladder heading towards them, with a young fireman on it.

"- Pff, clearly... Next time I see him, I'll kick his ass so hard he'll..."

But the Osakan stopped his threat halfway when he eyed the man coming to them and the smirk on his face.

"- Ya damn Thief !

\- Tsk tsk, that's no language for a lady..." The Thief scolded with a malicious smile. "Come on, rejoice, we're even now ! Well, we'll be even when you'll wake up... Good night, ladies !

\- What the ... ?!" The small detective had barely the time to wonder, before the Kid sprayed something on his and Heiji's face, and he felt he was losing consciousness almost instantaneously.

"- How are they ?" A fireman who was climbing the ladder to meet his "colleague" asked when he approached them.

"- It looks like they fainted with the shock, we'll have to carry them down. Could you bring me something to cut the rope ? The knots are too tight...

\- Ok."

The Thief looked at the man who was going down once again. He wouldn't be here when he'd be coming back, he had something else awaiting him !

"- Thanks for your help my dear Tantei-chan ! " He smirked, bringing his hand to his helmet as a kind of salute to the two knocked out detectives, before removing his disguise and reveal his white suit. "And Dame Rosethorn, here I am !"

 **END**

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 **See you soon ~ !**

 **o.O.o answer to the guest reviews to this chapter o.O.o**

 **emmahoshi : Yup, I also needed to end on a funny note, glad you laughed as much as me xD But nah, the Kid is a pranker, he knew it would have been cruel to make them choose between their beliefs and their debt to him. So it was more the ridiculous kind ; ). See you soon ! Maybe not on the next since it won't be Heiji centred but for the one after ! (the non-heiji one won't be too long, I promise ^^)**


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